Politics

When The Invisible Hand Gives You The Finger

April 4, 2020 Dorothee Benz, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Capitalism, COVID-19, Media, Politics

Since the days of Adam Smith, capitalists have been arguing that unfettered markets are the best way to organize the economy. Smith famously said that the rich are “led by an invisible hand” to, “without knowing it, advance the interest of the society.” The rise of the welfare state in the wake of the Great Depression tempered such magical thinking for a few decades, but the ascent of neoliberalism in the last half-century has brought a resurgence in market fundamentalism, in both theory (very much including the pages of the New York Times and Washington Post) as well as practice. Yet none of the steady stream of articles from these outlets attesting to heartbreaking shortages of medical equipment in coronavirus-ravaged areas in the US—“A NY Nurse Dies. Angry Co-Workers Blame a Lack of Protective Gear” (New York Times, 3/26/20), “Unprotected and Unprepared: Home Health Aides Who Care for Sick, Elderly Brace for Covid-19” (Washington Post, 3/24/20), “NY May Need 18,000 Ventilators Very Soon. It Is Far Short of That” (New York Times, 3/17/20), or “The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who Won’t? “ (New York Times, 3/21/20), for instance—have stopped to ask why the laws of supply and demand have so catastrophically failed in this crisis.

What Are The Political Views Of People Who Are Incarcerated?

March 14, 2020 By Nicole Lewis, Aviva Shen and Anna Flagg, Themarshallproject.org Educate! Mass Incarceration, Politics

Asimple question at a Bernie Sanders town hall last spring sparked a debate new to prime time: Should incarcerated people be allowed to vote? Sanders said yes—his home state of Vermont (and its neighbor, Maine) are the only states to give all people in prison that right. Later, Joe Biden said no.

How Do You Blow The Whistle On A Whole Society?

January 21, 2020 David Swanson, Davidswanson.org Educate! Media, Politics

Like perhaps most people who visit Los Angeles, I consider it my duty to offer a brilliant new idea for a film script. My idea is in the genre of science-fiction mafia, a genre that I think has not been sufficiently exploited. In this film, the protagonist wakes up to the fact that without knowing it, he has somehow joined the mafia. I expect people to be able to relate to the story because I believe that this entire country either has become aware or needs to become aware that it has joined the mafia.

The Centrist Delusion: ‘Middle Ground’ Politics Aren’t Moderate, They’re Dangerous

December 17, 2019 Raoul Martinez, Novaramedia.com Strategize! History, Ideology, Politics

In eighteenth century Britain, centrists endorsed slavery, reformists called for improved working conditions for slaves and radicals demanded the abolition of the entire institution. As historian Adam Hochschild recounts, if in 1787 “you had stood on a London street corner and insisted slavery was morally wrong and should be stopped, nine out of ten listeners would have laughed you off as a crackpot. The tenth might have agreed with you in principle, but assured you ending slavery was wildly impractical.”

A Urinal In A Scottish Pub Reveals Why Toilets Matter In International Politics

August 19, 2019 Rhys Crilley and Robert A Saunders, Intrepidreport.com Resist! Diplomacy, Politics, Scotland, Toilets

If you wanted to see international politics in action, where would you go? Maybe the UN headquarters in New York to see diplomats debating resolutions of global import? Or drop in on one of the world’s many financial hubs, where trading shapes international markets and determines the success or failure of nations. But you probably wouldn’t visit a toilet in a Glasgow pub, would you? Our research analyses the political significance of the urinal in the Lismore—a traditional Scottish pub in the Partick area of Glasgow—and argues that mundane spaces like this are important for understanding contemporary international politics.

The Empty Radicalism Of The Climate Apocalypse

June 23, 2019 Ted Nordhaus, Issues.org. Strategize! climate crisis, Energy, Politics

At a moment when advocates make a range of demands that are simultaneously vague and controversial, from ending capitalism and economic growth to rejecting materialism and consumption to reorganizing the entire global economy around intermittent sources of renewable energy, almost no one, in either electoral politics or nongovernmental organizations, seems willing to demand that governments take direct and obvious actions to slash emissions and replace fossil energy with clean. By that, I don’t mean simply demanding that governments regulate emissions. Advocates and even many governments have been calling for and even committing to deep emissions cuts for decades now, to little effect. Rather, I mean actually offering specific proposals to rapidly build the infrastructure of a low carbon economy or restrict carbon-intensive activities woven into the fabric of Americans’ daily lives.

After Rahm’s Destruction, Can Chicago Creative A Cooperative Economy?

October 15, 2018 Matt Stannard, Occupy.com Create! Chicago, Cooperatives, Finance and the Economy, Politics, Revisionism

When Rahm Emanuel announced last month that he would not seek a third term as mayor of Chicago, he broke no hearts among people opposed to neoliberal privatization and the power of finance capital. In Chicago under Emanuel, as the editors of the 2016 anthology Neoliberal Chicago write, “neoliberalism led officials to privatize everything from parking meters to schools, gut regulations and social services, and promote gentrification wherever possible.” To take just one lurid example, Emanuel’s Chicago “privatized janitorial services for our schools,” organizer Amara Enyia told me, only to end up with rodent-infested schools, literally “rats and mice running around in classrooms. Those schools had to be closed and cleaned. This is what happens when you privatize services.”

Democratic Socialism And Political Power

October 1, 2018 Rob Urie, Counterpunch.org Strategize! Democratic Socialism, Politics, Revisionism

Occasionally a phrase supports a wide range of political posturing while bearing little determinable relationship to actionable politics. ‘Income inequality’ is one of these phrases. Few using it are communists, a politics that recognizes concentrated economic power as both cause and effect in the skewed distribution of income and wealth. And the entire point of capitalism is the concentration of these that functions as (circular) proof of the social utility created by capitalists. As corollary to American democracy, the phrase ignores centuries of evidence that political power is determined by economic power. Of current relevance is its place in the programs of Democratic Socialism, a rebranding of New Deal type social welfare programs that proponents (I am one) apparently intend to fit into existing American political economy.

“Get up” – Sahra Wagenknecht In An Interview About Her Collection Movement

August 16, 2018 By Fabienne Rzitki, Web.de Create! Class Struggle, Germany, Politics

A movement can not compete in elections in Germany. But when we get strong, we can build up so much pressure that the parties open their lists for fellow campaigners. However, our primary concern is not to get parliamentary posts, but to launch an initiative that will make political engagement attractive again. We want to address people who have turned away disappointed from the parties. We want to win those who do not want party-political ox-tours, but are very interested in politics and want to help shape it. We will be different, in our communication, in our appearance. After all, the majority of our now over forty prominent founding members does not come from politics. There are actors, singers, writers, scientists, cabaret artists, theater people.

A New Model For Progressive Politics In The Heart Of Deindustrialization

May 5, 2018 Bruce Vail, Inthesetimes.com Organize! Politics, Progressive

It’s startling when your hometown is labeled the worst city in the United States for African Americans. That’s what happened in Peoria in late 2016 when a survey by the online publication 24/7 Wall St. rated the central Illinois city at the top of its list of the “Worst Cities for Black Americans.” The slap at Peoria wasn’t even the worst indignity suffered by the people of the city at that time. Shortly afterward, world-famous machinery maker Caterpillar Inc. said it would close the company’s Peoria world headquarters and move to Chicago. The decision was announced after years of discussion about the future of the company’s headquarters, during which the locals were consistently misled to believe that Caterpillar was committed to remaining in the city. The move reflects the deindustrialization and associated ills that are afflicting Peoria and scores of other small cities across the Midwest.

National Consensus For Progressive Transformational Change Grows

March 8, 2018 Jim Naureckas, Fair.org Educate! Ideology, Liberals, Politics

The Pew Research Center (3/1/18) recently released a survey on political attitudes by generation. “America is politically sorted by generations in a way it never has before,” was the takeaway of New York‘s Jonathan Chait (3/1/18). Well, sort of. The generational divide is a striking feature of US politics, but it’s not exactly breaking news. While as recently as the 2000 election, young people were the least likely age group to vote for the Democrat, and old folks the most, since 2008the generations have voted the stereotype of left-leaning youth and conservative elders. That’s still happening, Pew finds. What’s more striking to me in Pew’s findings is how voters of all generations have shifted to the left—mostly by becoming more consistently progressive, mostly in the last six or seven years

The Complex Political Realities In Venezuela

March 1, 2018 By Lucas Koerner, Venezuelanalysis.com Educate! Economics, Politics, Venezuela

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans could be seen marching down Caracas’ principal Urdaneta Avenue under the sweltering Caribbean sun. No, this was not a protest against the government, which we are routinely told is a dictatorship inflicting mass starvation on its people, but on the contrary, a public rally backing President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection campaign. The occasion was February 4th, which this year marked the 26th anniversary of Hugo Chavez’s revolutionary 1992 uprising against Venezuela’s oligarchic two-party system, known as the Fourth Republic. However, ahead of upcoming April 22 presidential elections that may well determine the fate of Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution, this 4F – as it is commonly known – was much more an explicit show of support for the current leftist president.

Corpses Of Souls

January 9, 2018 By Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com Educate! Donald Trump, Ideology, Politics

Walker Percy in his 1971 dystopian novel “Love in the Ruins” paints a picture of a morally degenerate America consumed by hedonism, wallowing in ignorance, led by kleptocrats and fools, fragmented into warring and often violent cultural extremes and on the cusp of a nuclear war. It is a country cursed by its failure to address or atone for its original sins of genocide and slavery. The ethos of ceaseless capitalist expansion, white supremacy and American exceptionalism, perpetuated overseas in the country’s imperial wars, eventually consumes the nation itself. The accomplices, who once benefited from this evil, become its victims. How, Percy asks, does one live a life of meaning in such a predatory society? Is it even possible?

Open Letter To American People From Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales

December 23, 2017 Staff, taskforceamericas.org Resist! Geopolitics, Imperialism, Latin America, Politics

For the past century, the owners of the fruit companies called our country “Banana Republic” and characterized our politicians as “cheaper than a mule” (as in the infamous Rolston letter). Honduras, a dignified nation, has had the misfortune of having a ruling class lacking in ethical principles that kowtows to U.S. transnational corporations, condemning our country to backwardness and extreme poverty. We have been subject to horrible dictatorships that have enjoyed U.S. support, under the premise that an outlaw is good for us if he serves transnational interests well. We have reached the point that today we are treated as less than a colony to which the U.S. government does not even deign to appoint an ambassador.

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