Bulletin N° 773
Subject : ON THE GLOBAL ATTEMPT TO CONSOLIDATE ‘CORPORATE
ORDER’ IN A POST-NATIONALIST WORLD.
15 November 2017
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
In his short book, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis
Bonaparte (1852), Karl Marx wrote:
“The tradition of past
generations weighs like the Alps on the brains of the living.”
This famous Marxist adage seems to be vindicated
today, when it appears clear to anyone wishing to understand current events
that we are in the midst of a capitalist development where international
oligarchs wish to consolidate their control over production, distribution and
consumption of all goods and services, including those which are vital for
human survival. This monopoly control could easily presume that the world is
over populated, and furthermore it could proceed to do something about this
‘problem’. (See David Peterson and the late Edward S. Herman’s work on The Politics of Genocide,
2010.)
No one today thinks that Trump has national
interests in mind when he travels abroad. He is meeting with his cohorts –
fellow millionaires and billionaires - who have the same class interests and
are prepared to sacrifice their own populations – in Saudi Arabia, Japan,
China, the Philippines, Puerto Rico – to further their corporate objectives.
They have the technology, the science, the capital, and the media outlets necessary
to achieve short-term gains. In the long-run, they are all prepared to die and
go to the gilded heaven of their own deluded construction. The class war we are
now witnessing is reminiscent of that of late 19th-century America,
when striking workers were routinely massacred by hired company thugs. (See Richard
Boyer & Herbert Morais’s influential book, Labor’s Untold Story,
1955.) The compulsive struggle for immediate profits will cost the big players
nothing in the short run. It is costing many innocent men, women and children,
however, their lives (“collateral damage,” is what the corporate media calls
it!), and, in the long run, it will destroy humanity.
Some of the ingenious weapons for preemptive strike against
critical thought, in the war of words, which counterrevolutionary forces
gathered long ago in their arsenal of instrumental concepts - terms like « politically
correct » and « conspiracy theory » - have been useful to
neutralize the ideas of opponents to imperialist policy, to bring them into the
fold, via “cognitive readjustment”. Today, self-censorship prevails, and the
ruling class continues to follow their imperialist agenda, knowing that
nationalist wars are no more than working class suicides, and like every suicide
it requires the full complicity of the victim.
The 26 items below provide
information about the sinister political-economic spiral we are caught up in
and the possible exits that are passing us by each moment, as we descend into a
helpless state of paralysis, weighed down in the magnet field of ubiquitous capitalist propaganda, by deed and by
word.
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.
On Human
Understanding
+
‘Danish Artist Jesn Galschiot invades’ COP23 in Bonn - and the world’s
media
http://www.galschiot.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Artikler-ALLE-cop23-1-1.pdf
===========
b.
15,000
scientists give catastrophic warning about the fate of the world
in
new ‘letter to humanity’
'Time
is running out'
by
Andrew Griffin
===========
c.
To Address Historic
Failures, Autopsy Urges 'Progressive Reboot'
for Democrats
by Jake Johnson
"Outmoded narratives and facile calls for
'unity' must be replaced with a new vision of politics that is explicitly
inclusive and participatory,"
concludes new analysis.
===========
d.
The Real
Motive Behind the GOP Tax Plan
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/real-motive-behind-gop-tax-plan/
===========
+
STEALING IS LEGAL
https://www.truthdig.com/cartoons/stealing-legal-video/
===========
e.
Will America Survive
Washington?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48196.htm
by Paul Craig Roberts
In recent columns posted on my website, I brought attention
to two dramatic and dangerous developments between the two major nuclear
powers.
One was the public statement of the deputy commander of the
Russian military’s Operation Command at a recent Moscow security conference.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznihir, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of
the Russian Armed Forces, stated at the Moscow International Security
Conference that the Operations Command of the Russian General Staff has
concluded that Washington
is preparing a nuclear first strike on Russia.
The
other is the report that the US is collecting Russian DNA for
the US Air Force weapons laboratory, the implication being that the US intends
to research if a bio-weapon can be created that only targets Russians.
===========
f.
Resisting Trump? Five Tips from the
Hunter-Gatherer Playbook
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/11/10/resisting-trump-five-tips-hunter-gatherer-playbook
by Jeremy Lent
Our egalitarian hunter-gatherer ancestors
developed sophisticated social technologies for keeping upstarts in check. What
can the popular resistance movement learn from them in confronting the worst
excesses of Donald Trump?
===========
g.
Chomsky & Indonesian Moderates
(censored?)
+
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/10/noam-chomsky-on-our-wonderful-indonesian-moderates/
by Daniel Falcone
===========
h.
Breaking
The Silence
Truth And Lies In The War On Terror'
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48188.htm
A hard hitting special video, report into the "war on
terror" by
award winning journalist John Pilger (2003)
The film dissects the truth and lies behind the 'War on
Terror', investigating the discrepancies between American and British
justification for 'war' and the facts on the ground in Afghanistan and
Washington DC.
Pilger explains that US actions have nothing to do with
fighting terrorism but are instead part of an opened-ended war for global
dominance.
===========
i.
Hariri’s Resignation as Prime Minister of Lebanon
is Not All it Seems
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48177.htm
He certainly did not anticipate what happened to him. Indeed, Hariri had
scheduled meetings in Beirut on the following Monday – with the IMF, the World
Bank and a series of discussions on water quality improvement; not exactly the
action of a man who planned to resign his premiership
by Robert
Fisk
When Saad Hariri’s
jet touched down at Riyadh on the evening of 3 November, the first thing he saw
was a group of Saudi policemen surrounding the plane. When they came aboard,
they confiscated his mobile phone and those of his bodyguards. Thus was
Lebanon’s prime minister silenced.
===========
j.
On The Brink Of War
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48176.htm
The latest developments in Saudi Arabia are just the prelude to an imminent war
that will reshape the region and affect the entire world
by
Abdel Bari Atwan
===========
k.
Exposed: Secret Raqqa
ISIS Withdrawal Deal
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48193.htm
A secret deal that let hundreds of IS fighters and their families escape
from Raqqa under the gaze of the US and British-led coalition
by BBC
Lorry driver Abu Fawzi
thought it was going to be just another job. He drives an 18-wheeler across
some of the most dangerous territory in northern Syria. Bombed-out bridges,
deep desert sand, even government forces and so-called Islamic State fighters
don’t stand in the way of a delivery. But this time, his load was to be human
cargo. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab
fighters opposed to IS, wanted him to lead a convoy that would take hundreds of
families displaced by fighting from the town of Tabqa on the Euphrates river to
a camp further north. The job would take six hours, maximum – or at least
that's what he was told.
But when he and his fellow
drivers assembled their convoy early on 12 October, they realised they had been
lied to. Instead, it would take three days of hard driving, carrying a deadly
cargo - hundreds of IS fighters, their families and tonnes of weapons and
ammunition. Abu Fawzi and dozens of other drivers were promised thousands of
dollars for the task but it had to remain secret.
The deal to let IS fighters
escape from Raqqa – de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate – had
been arranged by local officials. It came after four months of fighting that
left the city obliterated and almost devoid of people. It would spare lives and
bring fighting to an end. The lives of the Arab, Kurdish and other fighters
opposing IS would be spared. But it also enabled many hundreds of IS fighters
to escape from the city. At the time, neither the US and British-led coalition,
nor the SDF, which it backs, wanted to admit their part.
Has the pact, which stood
as Raqqa’s dirty secret, unleashed a threat to the outside world - one that has
enabled militants to spread far and wide across Syria and beyond?
Great pains were taken to
hide it from the world. But the BBC has spoken to dozens of people who were
either on the convoy, or observed it, and to the men who negotiated the deal.
===========
l.
Book Review
Central
Bankers At the End of Their Rope?
(Clarity Press, July
2017)
by Jack Rasmus and Denise Vivar
https://zcomm.org/zmagazine/central-bankers-at-the-end-of-their-rope/
reviewed by David R. Baker
+
https://jackrasmus.com/2017/06/02/central-bankers-at-the-end-of-their-rope-part-1-4-part-series/
“CENTRAL BANKERS” is a
comprehensive critique of central banks’ policies in the 21st century,
explaining why the massive injections of free money to the banking system since
the 1970s enabled the creation of excess corporate debt that has led to
financial bubbles and repeated crises. The book addresses the growing
contradictions of central banking, why they are failing in their functions,
targets and tools, and proposes a radical democratization and restructuring to
transform them to serve the public interest and not the private banks.
===========
m.
Empire Files: Trump Expands Police-State
Crackdown on the Left
Abby Martin
===========
n.
From: "Fred Lonidier"
<flonidier@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, 7 November, 2017 8:27:31 PM
Subject: kunstbunker Nürnberg INVITATION November 14 - opening
Fred Lonidier
EINLADUNG/INVITATION
kunstbunker
forum für zeitgenössische Kunst e.V.
Bauhof 9, 90402 Nürnberg
----------
Fred Lonidier
N.A.F.T.A. (Not A Fair Trade for All)
16. November bis 31. Dezember 2017
Eröffnung: Dienstag, 14. November 2017 ab 19.30 Uhr
Mittwoch 15.11., 17 Uhr, Künstlergespräch
mit Fred Lonidier,
dem Kunsthistoriker Wolfgang Brauneis und Hans-Jürgen
Hafner
----------
Fred Lonidier
N.A.F.T.A. (Not A Fair Trade for All)
November 16 - December 31 2017
opening reception: Tuesday, November 14, 7.30pm
Wednesday November
15, 5 pm, artist talk
with Fred Lonidier,
art-historian
Wolfgang Brauneis and Hans-Jürgen Hafner
kunstbunker
forum für zeitgenössische Kunst e.V.
Bauhof 9, 90402 Nürnberg
www.kunstbunker-nuernberg.org
opening hours
Thursday to Saturday 4 pm - 8 pm
Sunday 2 pm - 6 pm
and by appointment
ZUR AUSSTELLUNG
----------------
Von 15.
November bis 31. Dezember 2017 ist im kunstbunker eine umfangreiche Ausstellung
mit Arbeiten des US-amerikanischen Künstlers Fred Lonidier (Jg. 1942) zu sehen.
Lonidiers Werk hat seinen Ursprung einerseits in der konzeptuellen Kunst der
1960er Jahre und bezieht seine Thematik andererseits aus der kontinuierlichen -
und kritischen - Beschäftigung des Künstlers mit Arbeitsverhältnissen,
Formen der Ausbeutung und gewerkschaftlicher Organisation sowie dem Prozess der
Globalisierung und den Effekten transnationaler Handelsbeziehungen. Recherche
und politischer Aktivismus spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Lonidiers
Vorgehen lässt sich gleichwohl weder auf das rein Dokumentarische, Konzeptuelle
oder Aktivistische festschreiben. Auf Basis von Fotografien, Texten und
Materialien zu historischen Ereignissen sammelt und collagiert Lonidier in oft
über Jahre entwickelten Serien, thematische Panels und Schaubilder, die sowohl
ästhetisch interpretiert als auch als dezidiert politische Statements gelesen
werden können.
Vergleichbar
den Ansätzen von Martha Rosler, Allen Sekula oder Mierle Laderman Ukeles ist
Fred Lonidiers künstlerisches Werk nicht vom gesellschaftspolitischen Anliegen
und sozialen Engagement zu trennen, welches es motiviert hat. Die eingesetzten
Verfahren des Dokumentarischen und Journalistischen sind entsprechend
mindestens ebenso sehr als künstlerischer ‚Stil‘ zu diskutieren wie
als dessen Funktionalisierung als Mittel der Information, Aufklärung und
Emanzipation.
Das in über
vier Jahrzehnten gewachsene Werk des Künstlers ist in den USA in zahlreichen
Museen und Institutionen gezeigt worden, in Europa aber bisher kaum bekannt. Im
kunstbunker werden Teile der Serie N.A.F.T.A. (Not A Fair Trade for All), die
das titelgebende nordamerikanische Freihandelsabkommen zum Thema hat, gezeigt.
Diese Auswahl erfolgte im Dialog mit Lonidier, nicht zuletzt aufgrund der
Geschichte Nürnbergs als ehemals wichtiger Industriestandort und den aktuellen
Kontroversen um die transatlantischen Freihandelsabkommen CETA und TTIP.
Fred Lonidier
wird bei der Eröffnung der Ausstellung anwesend sein. Am Mittwoch, den 15.11.
findet im kunstbunker um 17.00 Uhr ein Künstlergespräch mit Fred Lonidier, dem
Kunsthistoriker Wolfgang Brauneis und Hans-Jürgen Hafner statt.
===========
o.
My Travels in White America – a Land of
Anxiety, Division and Pockets of Pain
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48162.htm
by Gary Younge
This summer, Gary Younge
took a trip from Maine to Mississippi to find out what has brought the US to
this point. From the forgotten poor to desperate addicts, their whiteness is
all some of them have left – and that makes fertile ground for the far right
===========
p.
Proof Trump's Supporters Will Stand Behind Him No Matter What
by Jacob Sugarman
A new dispatch
from rural Pennsylvania tells you everything you need to know about the
president's base.
===========
q.
A Year Without A President
https://www.truthdig.com/videos/year-without-president-video/
by Robert Reich
===========
r.
Trump Pushes War with Iran
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48158.htm
by
Finian Cunningham
Iran
has responded furiously to what it called “reckless” Saudi threats after the
latter accused Iran of “an act of war” in carrying out a long-range ballistic
strike near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Iran categorically denied any
involvement in the missile attack at the weekend, which reports say was mounted
by Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. However, the Saudi
rulers were quick to accuse Iran
of supplying the Houthi militants with the ballistic weapon and thereby carrying
out an act of war on Saudi Arabia. No evidence was presented in support of the
Saudi claims. Nevertheless, the Saudi position was immediately backed
up by US President Donald Trump who, while on a tour of Asia,
asserted: “Iran just took a shot at Saudi Arabia.”
===========
s.
House
Leadership Pulls a Fast One for al Qaeda
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48164.htm
by
Connor Freeman
House Concurrent Resolution
81(H.Con.Res.81) is sponsored by Representatives, Ro Khanna
(D-Calif.), Walter Jones (R-NC), Mark
Pocan
(D-Wisc.), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and 39 other lawmakers. The resolution
commands an end to U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
The
sponsors of this resolution contend that such participation, which began in
March 2015, was never authorized under the War Powers Act of 1973. Per the War
Powers Act, any congressman can pose a legal challenge and is guaranteed a floor vote on the
issue. This is known as a privilegedresolution.
On
November 1st, the night before the vote was scheduled to take place, House
leadership swiftly pushed through a Rules Committee vote, denying the
resolution’s privileged status. Thus, preventing the guaranteed floor vote. What was
their justification? Apparently, the House Rules Committee feels that the war
in Yemen has yet to ‘rise to a level’ where the War Powers Act is applicable.
===========
t.
How colonial violence came home:
the ugly truth of the first world war
The Great War is often depicted as an
unexpected catastrophe. But for millions who had been living under imperialist
rule, terror and degradation were nothing new.
===========
u.
More than 400,000 Somali’s, Two Thirds of
Whom Were Children, Have Died of Starvation in Six Months, UN Reports
https://ahtribune.com/world/africa/1999-death-in-somalia.html
by
American Herald Tribune Staff
===========
v.
‘Win-win?’
asks Kim
https://peacenews.info/node/8814/%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%CB%9Cwin-win%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2-asks-kim
by
Milan Rai
This
may be hard to believe, but it is North Korea that has been offering a
diplomatic solution to its confrontation with the United States. Long before
Donald Trump became president, it was the US that was refusing to take the
olive branch. As PN goes to press, the world is
still reacting to Trump’s speech at the United Nations on 20 September. The
president said that US would ‘totally destroy’ North Korea if forced to defend
itself or its allies
===========
w.
Journalist
Eva Bartlett: "I'm Back From Syria. The Media Is Lying To You!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUyJV6YaSWY&t=1010s
===========
x.
US Mideast Axis Reels As Russian-Backed
Forces Power Ahead
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48150.htm
by
Finian Cunningham
It’s
been a more-than-usual eventful week in the Middle East. Russian-backed forces
made yet more significant military gains in defeating US-sponsored proxies in
Syria, with a fearsome display of long-range Russian air and naval firepower
against militant hold-outs near Deir ez-Zor. That was while Russian President
Vladimir Putin was greeted in the Iranian capital Tehran by Ayatollah Khamenei
– a meeting that spoke volumes of the new reality of geopolitical authority in
the region. Then days later, the Saudi-backed Lebanese premier Saad Hariri
makes a “surprise” resignation, which wasn’t really a surprise for those who
are watching events closely. Hariri made his blustering speech while in the
Saudi capital Riyadh, accusing Iran
and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of “destabilizing” his country, and even
plotting to assassinate him. Iran denounced Hariri’s
antics as “grandstanding” and kowtowing to a political agenda set by Washington
and its regional allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel, aimed at smearing Iran and
Hezbollah.
===========
y.
US
helicopters seen evacuating ISIS leaders from al-Mayadeen
before
arrival of Syrian Army
===========
z.
From: "Israel-Palestine Timeline" <contact@ifamericansknew.org>
To: "FRANCIS FEELEY" <francis.feeley@u-grenoble3.fr>
Sent: Wednesday, 8 November, 2017 1:06:11 PM
Subject: Ahmad Abu Armana, Mohammad al-Aqha, Misbah Shbeir, Husam
Samiri...
|
+
Why
Israel and Hezbollah are heading for a new,
devastating
war in the Middle East
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/new-war-middle-east-israel-hezbollah-lebanon-iran-syria-donald-trump-us-administration-conflict-a7670126.html https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/06/03/11/hezbollah.jpg
by
Nicholas Noe
In 13 years of watching these two bitter opponents, I have never seen such a high degree of anxiety that war is coming.