| Progressive Calendar 10.10.05 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001 tc.umn.edu)
|
|
| Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 04:17:33 -0700 (PDT) | |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 10.10.05
Anti-Columbus day
1. Vs Kerry/Coleman 10.10 9am
2. ComoParkN4Peace 10.10 6pm
3. Formula biz/Grand 10.10 7pm
4. MnSOAWatch 10.10 7pm
5. Coming out week 10.10 7pm Northfield MN
6. Advocacy workshop 10.11 7:30am
7. Building dreams 10.11 7:30am
8. Childhood illness 10.11 6pm
9. Shocking & awful 10.11 6:30pm
10. No Anoka stadium 10.11 7pm
11. War/rape/film 10.11 7pm
12. Dine fresh/local 10.11
13. Audrey Thayer - Why do we celebrate Columbus Day?
14. Gilles d'Aymery - The Americanization of the world
15. Lewis Lapham - On message: fascism
16. WH Auden - Epitaph on a tyrant (poem)
17. ed - One good thing about Benito (poem)
--------1 of 17--------
From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Vs Kerry/Coleman 10.10 9am
Monday, 10/10, Friends for a Nonviolent World "Greets" Sen John ("Hunt
them down and kill them") Kerry at Kagin Commons, Macalester College,
StPaul.
Leafletting at 9am, Kerry's rally for Chris Coleman at 10 to 11 am.
FNVW, 651- 917-0383.
[Charles Underwood comment: I'm still a little bitter. We could really
use an opposition party.]
[If Kerry is an example of the "progressive" Chris Coleman, I say a pox on
both the Kelly and Coleman houses. Better spend the time from now on
making alliances with and support for the four fairly progressive council
members - Thune(2), Benanav(4), Helgen(5), and Lantry(7), and monitoring
and lobbying and looking to replace the three Chamber of Commerce council
members - Montgomery(1), Harris(3), and Bostrom(6). Odds are we will need
all the help we can get, if Coleman is elected and pursues the same
corporate policies he did as CM in ward 2 (eg Gopher State Ethanol,
stadium). Bringing in Kerry only makes Coleman look like a supporter of
the worst directions of the DP. -ed]
--------2 of 17--------
From: Sheila Sullivan <aiisullivan [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: ComoParkN4Peace 10.10 6pm
I feel September was a successful month for those of us longing to see
peace in the world. The talk given by Jonathon Schell attracted over 800
people. The march in Washington on Sept. 24th was at least 100,000 and
all over the country vigils were held in solidarity to those marchers.
Here in St. Paul we gathered more than 1000 people to demand a withdrawal
of Iraq! The tide is turning and we have to keep going strong.
I hope many of you made it to Eyes Wide Open. It was an extremely
profound reminder of the cost of this horrific war. I hope and pray that
this exhibit was a keen reminder that war is costly!
Come to the Coffee Grounds at 6pm on Monday, Oct 10 where Como Park
Neighbors for Peace will convene to discuss ideas in Jonathon Schell's
book, "The Unconquerable World." Where do we go from here and what can we
do? Let's consider these questions in our next meeting.
--------3 of 17--------
From: Andy Hamerlinck <andy [at] macgrove.org>
From: Amanda Schultz [mailto:amanda [at] grandave.com]
Subject: Formula biz/Grand Av 10.10 7pm
["Formula businesses" are almost the same as what people have called
"chain stores." However, the courts allow limiting "formula businesses"
but disallow limits on "chain stores." -ed]
Formula Business Public Meetings
Mondays, October 10, 17 and 24 at 7 pm
Sponsored by the Summit Hill Association / District 16 Planning Council
All are welcome to these public meetings!
The purpose of these meetings is to provide information on Formula
Businesses Ordinances, to discuss them, and to evaluate them in relation
to Grand Avenue in St. Paul.
This discussion is in response to growing concerns and questions about the
changing nature of Grand Avenue with fewer unique, independent stores and
more formula stores.
Each meeting will have a presentation, and time for questions and
discussion. Input at these meetings will shape future conversations about
the appropriateness of a Formula Business Ordinance proposal for Grand
Avenue
Meeting #1 - What are Formula Business Ordinances?
Summary: Come and learn about what Formula Businesses ordinances are,
where they are used, and how they differ.
Monday October 10
7-8:30pm
Linwood Recreation Center
Meeting #2 - The Pros and Cons of Formula Business Ordinances Summary:
What are some concerns about a Formula Business Ordinance? Presentation by
the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. [This will NOT be a progressive
presentation, and the Chamber will probably fill the time till many get
tired and leave, before the open question period (if any) - ed] Also, what
are some communities doing instead to support small businesses?
Monday October 17
7-8:30pm
William Mitchell College of Law - Auditorium
Meeting #3 - Is a Formula Business Ordinance right for Grand Avenue?
Summary: Is a Formula Business Ordinance appropriate for Grand Avenue? If
so, what form could it take? If not, what are the best alternatives?
Monday October 2
7-8:30pm
William Mitchell College of Lae - Auditorium
Andy Hamerlinck Community Outreach Coordinator Macalester-Groveland
Community Council 320 S Griggs St. St. Paul, MN 55105 Tel: 651-695-4000
E-mail: andy [at] macgrove.org
--------4 of 17--------
From: mnsoaw [at] circlevision.org
Subject: MnSOAWatch 10.10 7pm
We would like to let you know of two GET THE WORD OUT presentations:
Monday October 10 at 7pm
in the St. Joseph room at St Mary of the Lake,
4690 Bald Eagle Ave in White Bear Lake
Thursday October 13 at 7pm
Cannon Valley Friends Meeting
333 1/2 Division St (above Jenkins Jewelers)
Northfield, MN
Our GET THE WORD OUT multi-media presentation is geared to those who are
new to this issue. The program includes images, portions of a video, real
prisoners of conscience, witnesses from delegations to Central and South
American countries and legislative efforts. We hope to educate about what
the SOA/WHINSEC is and encourage people to participate in the campaign to
get it closed. Let your friends know who are curious and would like to
learn more,
We have two more dates pending- we will email the times as they become
solidified.
Seats are still available on the Veterans for Peace, Chapter 27 bus for
the SOAW vigil in Georgia. Leaving the Twin Cities Friday morning November
18 and then leaving Columbus on Sunday evening. Call Jim at 612.722.1112
to reserve your spot.
--------5 of 17--------
From: FamiliesLikeMine.com <info [at] familieslikemine.com>
Subject: Coming out week 10.10 7pm Northfield MN
Abigail Garner will be speaking at Carleton College on Monday (10/10) to
kick off National Coming Out Week.
FAMILIES LIKE MINE: CHILDREN OF GAY PARENTS TELL IT LIKE IT IS
A talk by Abigail Garner
Monday October 10, 7pm
Free and open to the public.
Gould Library Athenaeum
Carleton College
http://www.carleton.edu
Northfield, Minnesota
Sponsored by The Gender and Sexuality Center
(http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/gsc/)
Debates about gay parenting continue among politicians, religious leaders,
schools and the media. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian people continue to
become parents through adoption, fostering, surrogacy, donor insemination,
and previous heterosexual marriages. Although there are an estimated ten
million children in the United States who have at least one parent who is
gay or lesbian, their voices are rarely heard amidst dialogue about "the
best interest of the children."
How are kids of gay parents affected in our society that questions the
validity of their families? What unique challenges do these children
face? What does it mean when heterosexual children of gay parents call
themselves "culturally queer?"
Abigail Garner grew up in a gay family during the 1970's and 80's, and is
now a nationally known activist for LGBT family rights, an author
("Families Like Mine" HarperCollins, 2004) and creator of the website,
www.familieslikemine.com. She speaks on behalf of those who are caught in
the middle of the political and moral debates: the children, who just want
to be safe with the families who love them.
Books will be available after the event for the author to sign. For more
information: http://tinyurl.com/9w5bl
--------6 of 17--------
From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Advocacy workshop 10.11 7:30am
October 11 - Advocacy Workshop: Making Your Voice Heard.
7:30-11:30am
Schedule of events:
7:30-8:00am: Registration
8:00-8:10am: Welcome - David Ewald, Ewald Consulting
8:10-9:00am: A Look Back at the 2005 Session and a Glimpse into the 2006
Session Moderator: Ray Frost Speakers: State Representative Denise
Dittrich, State Senator Geoff Michel, Tom Hanson, Governor s Office,
Deputy Chief of Staff.
9-9:10am: Break
9:10-10:10am: Coalition Building and Grassroots Development Moderator:
Valerie Dosland Speakers: Jill Birnbaum, American Heart Association, Scott
Croonquist, Association of Metropolitan School Districts, Howard Epstein,
MN Join Together, Representative from NorthStar Corridor Development
Authority (invited)
10:15-11:15am: Media Messaging Moderator: Becca Pryse Speakers: Brian
Bakst, Associated Press, Mary Lahammer, Twin Cities Public Television,
Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio.
11:15-11:30am: Closing Comments
Find out more about this event at www.ewald.com
Location: Ewald Consulting & the Dorsey Ewald Conference Center, 1000 Westgate
Drive, Ste. 252, St. Paul, MN 55114
-------7 of 17--------
From: Philip Schaffner <PSchaffner [at] ccht.org>
Subject: CCHT Building Dreams 10.11 7:30am
You're invited to a free, one-hour information session provided by Central
Community Housing Trust. "Building Dreams" is on hour of inspiration and
information about the Twin Cities affordable housing crisis and the
mission of Central Community Housing Trust. You'll learn how affordable
housing is defined; how hard it is for a family to get by in the Twin
Cities on a low income; and how CCHT's high-quality, long-term approach to
housing helps solve the Twin Cities' housing crisis. We've limited each
session in size so you can meet and talk with CCHT leadership and get to
know other community members who care about housing.
For more information, visit: www.ccht.org/bd
Learn how Central Community Housing Trust is responding to the affordable
housing shortage in the Twin Cities. Please join us for a 1-hour Building
Dreams presentation.
Minneapolis Sessions:
Oct 11 at 7:30a
St. Paul Sessions:
Oct 19 at 4:30p
We are also happy to present Building Dreams at your organization, place
of worship, or business. Space is limited, please register online at:
www.ccht.org/bd or call Philip Schaffner at 612-341-3148 x237
(pschaffner [at] ccht.org)
Philip Schaffner Fund Development Manager Central Community Housing Trust
612-341-3148 x237 pschaffner [at] ccht.org
--------8 of 17--------
From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Childhood illness 10.11 6pm
October 11 - 2005-2006 Global Health Track Lecture Series: Integrated
Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). 6pm
Speaker: Justus Byarugba, MMed, MBChB, Senior Consultant Pediatrician,
Department of Pediatrics & Child Health, Mulago Hospital Complex, Kampala,
Uganda
The 2005-2006 Global Health Track Lecture Series will take place on the
2nd Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm in Moos Tower 5-125. Dinner provided
Location: Moos Tower 5-125, University of Minnesota. Twin Cities campus, East
Bank
--------9 of 17--------
From: patty guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Shocking/awful/salon 10.11 6:30pm
The Tuesday night salon will be showing parts 7 and 8 of the video series
of Shocking and Awful. This series shows the way many people view the war
in Iraq, and how, by seeing it, we can be empowered to try and end the
war. Produced by independent video activists around the world. patty
Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30pm.
Mad Hatter's Tea House,
943 W 7th, St Paul, MN
Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats.
Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information.
--------10 of 17--------
From: No Stadium Tax Coalition <nostadiumtax [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: No Anoka stadium 10.11 7pm
House Tax Comm. to meet in Anoka Tuesday night to discuss proposed Taxes
for Vikings Stadium
This is your chance to tell legislators in person: LET US VOTE!
There will be a PUBLIC HEARING regarding the proposed Anoka County Sales
Tax, before the Minnesota House Tax Committee:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11 AT 7 PM
Majectic Oaks Golf Club 701 Bunker Lake Blvd Ham Lake, MN
If you wish to testify, or have any questions, contact Craig Stone at
(651) 296-5367 or email: craig.stone [at] house.mn
Minnesota Law REQUIRES a referendum, but Zygi Wilf and Anoka County
officials want a special exception to "set aside" the referendum law!
Anoka County loves to say that everyone around here is for the stadium
tax. This is our chance to show them that the opposition is real! Come
show your support for a referendum. Let's pack the house.
--------11 of 17--------
From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: War/rape/film 10.11 7pm
October 11 - Women's Human Rights Film Series: Operation Fine Girl. 7pm.
Cost: Free and open to the public.
"Operation Fine Girl" is a documentary that focuses on rape and other
gender-based abuses used as weapons of war in Sierra Leone. Rose Park, a
staff attorney in the Women s Program and member of Minnesota Advocates
human rights monitoring team to Sierra Leone in 2004, will moderate a
discussion of the film.
Sign language interpretation and other accommodations are available with
advance notice. To request this service, contact The Friends at
651-222-3242 or friends [at] thefriends.org.
For more information, contact Mary Hunt at 612-341-3302, ext. 107,
mhunt [at] mnadvocates.org, or visit The Friends at www.thefriends.org.
Location: Merriam Park Branch Library, 1831 Marshall Avenue
--------12 of 17--------
From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: Dine fresh/local 10.11
2nd Annual Dine Fresh Dine Local Event
Tuesday, October 11
http://www.dinefreshdinelocal.com/
Come celebrate the 2nd annual Dine Fresh Dine Local event held on Tuesday,
October 11, 2005. We welcome you to dine out at one of the 16 restaurants
participating (listed below) in this years' Dine Fresh Dine Local event.
Each restaurant participating will be making a financial contribution in
support of promoting partnerships with local farmers. Gift bags containing
a 2006 Blue Sky Guide, compliments of Great River Energy, will be given
out to dining parties at each location. Mention Dine Fresh Dine Local to
get yours (while supplies last.) The gift bags will also contain the
following items and information on the value of supporting our local
farmers:
Minnesota Grown Directory (2005-2006 edition) - Published by the
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Edible Twin Cities Fall 2005 Issue - A quarterly magazine that promotes
the abundance of local foods in the Twin Cities area and surrounding
communities.
Land Stewardship Letter - A quarterly newsletter of the Land Stewardship
Project
At each participating restaurant you will have the opportunity to enter a
drawing. Grand Prize will be a $50 gift certificate to any participating
Dine Fresh Dine Local restaurant of the winner's choice. There will be
three 1st Prizewinners of memberships in Land Stewardship Project. There
will be six 2nd Prizewinners of Land Stewardship Project t-shirts and
hats. Minnesota Project and Sysco also sponsor this year's event.
In the meantime you can "Dine Fresh Dine Local" by visiting restaurants
that buy sustainably raised or organic products from local farmers. For a
list of those restaurants, visit the Blue Sky Guide website and click on
the Blue Sky Guide website.
Last year, over 200 dining parties showed their support for local farmers
on October 5, 2004 during the 1st annual Dine Fresh Dine Local event in
the Twin Cities. This was a special one-day culinary event involving
thirteen restaurants. The participating restaurants donated a portion of
the day or evening's proceeds to the Land Stewardship Project, Food
Alliance Midwest and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Minnesota
Grown program for their work in promoting sustainable farming and healthy
local foods.
We would like to thank the participating restaurants for their efforts in
supporting local sustainable farmers, Food Alliance Midwest, Land
Stewardship Project, Minnesota Grown, and Blue Sky Guide, by holding the
2005 Dine Fresh Dine Local event at their establishments.
PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS
Auriga
1930 Hennepin Ave South, Minneapolis
612-871-0777
www.aurigarestaurant.com
Birchwood Cafe
3311 East 25th Street, Minneapolis
612-722-4474
www.birchwoodcafe.com
Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar
308 Prince Street, St. Paul
651-228-9274
www.blackdogstpaul.com
Cafe Brenda
300 First Ave North, Minneapolis
612-342-9230
www.cafebrenda.com
Crema Cafe
3403 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis
612-824-3868
Fire Lake Grill House
31 South 7th Street, Minneapolis
612-216-FIRE
www.firelakerestaurant.com
French Meadow Bakery & Cafe
2610 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis
612-870-7855
www.frenchmeadowbakery.com/cafe.htm
Heartland
1806 St. Clair Ave, St. Paul
651-699-3536
www.heartlandrestaurant.com
May Day Cafe
3440 Bloomington Ave South, Minneapolis
612-729-5627
Muffuletta Café
2260 Como Ave, St. Paul
651-644-9116
www.muffuletta.com
Oceanaire Seafood Room
1300 Nicollet Mall (Hyatt Regency Center)
Minneapolis, MN 55403
612-333-4414
oceanaireseafoodroom.com
Sapor Café & Bar
428 Washington Ave North, Minneapolis
612-375-1971
www.saporcafe.com
St. Martin's Table
2001 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis
612-339-3920
Signature Cafe
130 Warwick Street SE, Minneapolis
612-378-0237
Tanpopo Noodle Shop
308 Prince Street, St. Paul
651-209-6527
www.tanpoporestaurant.com
Trotter's Café and Bakery
232 Cleveland Ave North, St. Paul
651-645-8950
www.trotters-stpaul.com
WA Frost
374 Selby Ave, St. Paul
651-224-5715
www.wafrost.com
--------13 of 17--------
From: audrey thayer <athayer [at] paulbunyan.net>
Subject: Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day?
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE COLUMBUS DAY?
What is the meaning of this day to each of us, or is there any meaning
at all?
Questions To Ponder As Columbus Day nears
1. Columbus sailed into the Caribbean and never even set foot in what is
now known as the United States. So, why do we, in the United States, give
him one of our 8 Federal holidays?
2. Why would Columbus be given credit for "discovering" the Americas
anyway, when we all know those lands were already inhabited and had been
for thousands of years? Didn't the inhabitants of those lands discover
them? Look at any map of the US and see the many, many, many states,
cities and towns that all bear the Native American names of people and
peoples who once populated those regions: Illinois, Oklahoma, Cheyenne,
Nantuckett, Milwaukee, Yuma, Omaha, Witchita, Tallahassee, Mississippi,
Muskogee, Tennessee, Allegheny, Missouri, Kentucky, Huron, Tuscalloosa and
on and on and on......
3. Knowing that Native Americans were already here, and Columbus never was
here, why does anyone go along with the myth that "Columbus Discovered
America", when we all know it is not true?
4. Why aren't we taught the whole truth about Columbus' actions and the
devastating consequences of those actions? Why are we only told about
Columbus, who as a boy who always wanted to sail and then when he got
older Spain provided him three ships & he sailed across the ocean and
DISCOVERED A NEW WORLD! (where millions of Taino had lived for thousands
of years and which we now call the Caribbean). Why are we only taught
about that FIRST voyage, and not the other 3 voyages, when all hell broke
loose? Why aren't we taught about how on the second voyage, unlike the
first when Columbus only had 3 small old ships, Columbus was given 17
large ships and 1,500 armed men eagerly signed up for the chance to go to
the "New World" with hopes of getting rich quick on the gold to be found
there? Also, why aren't we taught about the greed and brutality of the
Spaniards against the Taino (who have been remembered as "naked savages"
in our history books, if at all), and how the Taino were murdered and
enslaved on that second voyage? Why are we not taught about the third
voyage & how when King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain heard about
Columbus' actions in the "New World" he was sent back to Spain in chains
to stand trial for his crimes, was convicted and stripped of his titles?
Or, how the Spaniards tricked 80 of the Taino leaders into a hut and
burned them alive? Isn't to omit the ugly part of the truth considered
LYING BY OMISSION? Then, that is what our schools are doing when they only
teach about the first voyage, they are lying by omission to our students,
and we as a improperly educated country have a holiday for an evil,
greedy, slave-trading, murderer.
5. Some people say he is worthy of the honor of a holiday for his nautical
genius, but the Vikings sailed across the ocean to North America 500 years
before, Marco Polo sailed to China & India 300 years prior and the Chinese
set foot upon the very shores that Columbus did 71 years prior to the
arrival of Columbus, the difference being, Columbus "claimed" the land and
cites the Papal Bulls with giving him the authority to do so if no one
disputes the action, and Columbus according to his journal, was careful to
add that no one disputed it at the time, while admitting at the same time
that they could not understand each other, so how could they be expected
to understand what his flag-planting and pronunciations meant?
6. Many people will argue that Columbus brought Western Civilization to
what is now known as the United States, and that is the reason the US
bestows upon him the honor of a holiday. But how can we make that
correlation when Columbus, working for Spain, came in 1492 and the
European colonizers who came here TWO HUNDRED years later, came from
England? If Columbus is worthy of being given credit for this
"achievement", wouldn't it have happened 200 years earlier and wouldn't we
all be speaking Spanish now as the countries he invaded do?
7. Some people will argue that Columbus Day is a day for recognition of
Italians, an Italian Pride Day. Are Italians more worthy of recognition
than other ethnic groups in this country we have proudly (?) nicknamed
"The Melting Pot"? I have heard Italians say that Germans have
Oktoberfest, the Irish have St. Patrick's Day and Mexicans have Cinco de
Mayo, but none of those are FEDERAL holidays. The only two ethnic groups
worthy of recognition for their contributions and sacrifice in this land
are those who were ALREADY HERE when the Europeans came and those who the
Europeans BROUGHT HERE IN CHAINS. All other ethnic groups came here
voluntarily. It was long overdue but African Americans finally got their
holiday - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January.... but Native
Americans still don't have a holiday (urge your congressmen and women to
support House Bill #167).
8. Some people think he is deserving of the honor because he proved the
world was round, but this was already a widely accepted belief by educated
people at the time as Ptolemy, the ancient astronomer and geographer from
Egypt, declared that the Earth was spherical in the second century.
7. Why do 17 states refuse to recognize and/or celebrate Columbus Day?
8. Why do protestors gather and march at every Columbus Day Parade?
9. And, WHY is Columbus honored with one of our 8 federal holidays in the
US when,
a. He didn't "discover" us, or anything previously undiscovered or
uninhabited b. He never set foot on what is now U.S. soil. c. His legacy
is greed, theft, destruction, brutality, slave-trading and murder d. It is
offensive to Latin American, African American and Native Americans e.
Native Americans, who were here and are worthy of a holiday, still don't
have one
10. And why have the Taino people of the Caribbean and those in the US,
whose ancestors have paid such a huge price for the misfortune of being
"discovered", been erroneously declared extinct and are therefore denied
legal recognition by the government?
To learn more about the truth, read:
* In Defense of the Indians by Bartolome de las Casas
* A People's History by Howard Zinn
* Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Louwen
* Rethinking Columbus by Bigelow and Peterson
* The Voyages of Christopher Columbus by Rex and Thea Rienits
* The Log of Christopher Columbus by Robert H. Fuson
* The Journal of Columbus by Clarkson N. Potter
* 1421, The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies
* America Discovers Columbus by John Noble Wilford
* The Conquest of Paradise by Kirkpatrick Sale
* The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean by Troy S. Floyd
* The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov
* Columbus & Cortez, Conquerors for Christ by Eidsmoe.
Thank-you Paul Schultz from the White Earth Nation for providing this
tidbit
--------14 of 17--------
The Americanization Of The World
Samir Amin's The Liberal Virus
by Gilles d'Aymery
Book Review
Amin, Samir: The Liberal Virus: Permanent War and the Americanization of
the World, Monthly Review Press, 2004, ISBN 1-58367-107-2, 128 pages,
$15.95 (paperback)
(Swans - October 10, 2005) People who believe that the "indispensable
nation," in the words of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright -
from K Street to the Capitol and from the White House to Wall Street - can
do no wrong, and that the "Americanization of the world" by any necessary,
but primarily military, means, is an ardent obligation, if not yet a fait
accompli, will have no use for Samir Amin's 128-page book, The Liberal
Virus: Permanent War and the Americanization of the World (Monthly Review
Press, 2004). However, the partisans of the view that the U.S., in her
efforts to dominate and subjugate friends and foes, presents a clear
danger to the whole of humanity, should definitely read Mr. Amin's cogent
and somber analysis.
Samir Amin, the director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal, a
neo-Marxian economist and social scientist, advocates a new
internationalism in which Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans
pull together to defend their own interests and counter "the excessive and
criminal ambitions of the United States" what he calls the "American
project" or the "Americanization of the world" by "securing military
control of the planet." "At the present moment," he writes, "this
objective should be considered an absolute priority. The deployment of the
American project overdetermines the stake of every struggle: no social and
democratic advance will be lasting as long as the American plan has not
been foiled." (p. 111)
Unencumbered by a sense of history, with no long-term vision but a future
"conceived as the simple projection of the immediate," guided only by
capitalist accumulation and corporate profits, "the sole principle and
objective [of] Washington in its imperial policy is immediate pillage" -
petroleum resources being at the forefront of that plunder. Amin traces a
parallel between the "chosen people" and the Nazi terminology, Herrenvolk.
He warns that, "the militarist option of the United States threatens
everyone. It arises from the same logic as Hitler's: to change economic
and social relations in favor of the current chosen people (Herrenvolk)
through military violence," and he affirms that, "to bring the militarist
project of the United States to defeat has become the primary task, the
major responsibility, for everyone." (p. 81) He considers this project no
less than "barbaric," and leading to fascism.
(On a the subject of fascism, before dismissing Amin's views as too
radical, far-fetched, and grossly exaggerated, one should read the ominous
essay by Lewis H. Lapham, "On message," in the October issue of Harper's
Magazine (which is covered elsewhere in this issue). Mr. Lapham is a
member of the East Coast liberal intelligentsia, certainly not a Marxist
or a radical; but his "On message" substantiates Amin's analysis. That an
Egypt-born, Paris-trained, neo-Marxian thinker and an Ivy-League educated
American editorialist reach parallel conclusions should be noted.)
Samir Amin traces the extreme form of American neo-liberalism to European
liberalism, which fostered the growth of capitalism and modernity from the
Renaissance onward by elevating individual liberty as the single most
important human value above earlier forms of societies (tribes,
communities, families). Modernity led to the break between religion and
the state, and capitalism developed on new social relations, "free
enterprise, free access to markets, and the proclamation of the
untouchable right to private property (which is made 'sacred')."
Gradually, the traditional relation - "power is the source of wealth" -
was replaced by "wealth is the source of power." Economic liberalism thus
becomes inherently anti-democratic, a fundamental contradiction of
bourgeois thought that was realized during the French Revolution by the
Jacobins. On or about that time the liberal virus took two different forms
- the European and American strains.
While the French Revolution was in many ways a bourgeois revolution, it
nevertheless "put equality of human beings and their liberation from
economic alienation at the heart of their project," (p. 57) as did the
Russian and Chinese Revolutions later, and it was predominantly a secular
revolution. It was both a political and social project. In contrast, the
American Revolution took place in the fertile soil of apocalyptic
fundamentalism of the early immigrants. They were the "chosen people" who
had reached the "promised land." Writes Amin, "In their revolt against the
British monarchy, the American colonists did not want to transform their
economic and social relations; they just no longer wanted to share the
profits with the ruling class of the mother country. They wanted power for
themselves, not in order to create a different society from the colonial
regime, but to carry on in the same way, only with more determination and
more profit." (p. 64) It was a political project only.
The logic of capital accumulation, disguised behind the mealy-mouthed
rhetoric and work-of-god ideology, led to Westward expansion, the genocide
of the Indian nations, slavery (until it became an impediment to
capitalist expansion), unfettered raw material plundering, etc., all the
way to the current imperialist ambitions, without any social constraints.
The American strain of the liberal virus is an undiluted economic
liberalism, which is the actual meaning of liberty in the U.S., the
so-called "pursuit of happiness." There never was, and there is no,
egalitarian project in American liberalism. Where the "dominant culture of
European societies has up to now combined liberty and equality," Amin says
that "American society despises equality. Extreme inequality is not only
tolerated, it is taken as a symbol of 'success' that liberty promises." He
adds: "But liberty without equality is equal to barbarism."
According to Amin, the American working class has been unable to develop a
durable, assertive class consciousness because of the successive waves of
immigration and the "communitarianization" of American society (identity
politics), as well as the perpetually reinforced notion of "individual
success," always measured in monetary terms. "The absence of a worker's
party" combined with a "dominant Biblical religious ideology," he adds,
"has finally produced the unparalleled situation of a de facto single
party, the party of capital. The two segments that form this single party
share the same fundamental liberalism." Thus,
"American democracy constitutes the advanced model of what I call
low-intensity democracy. It is based on a total separation between the
management of political life, which rests on the practice of multiparty
electoral democracy, and the management of economic life, which is
governed by the laws of capital accumulation. What is more, this
separation is not the object of any radical questioning, but, on the
contrary, is part of what is called the general consensus. This separation
eliminates all the revolutionary potential of democratic politics. It
neutralizes representative institutions (parliament and others), making
them impotent in the face of the dictates of the market. Vote Republican,
vote Democrat, it makes no real difference when your future does not
depend on your electoral choice but on the uncertainties of the market.
(p. 68)
Realistically, Samir Amin acknowledges that the new, unilateral American
imperialism does not resemble the former national imperialisms of times
past. It is global in nature, but it relies on "collective capitalism,"
that of the U.S., Europe, and Japan - what he calls the "Triad." National
capitalism has been replaced by transnational capitalism. European and
Japanese capitalists - the major corporations - are entwined with American
interests. Michelin and GM, Wal*Mart and Carrefour, Toyota and Ford, etc.,
have much in common. Ownership is internationally spread. Dominant capital
within the Triad shares mutual interests (and capital). New products can
hardly be launched without a 500/600-million consumer market. So, the
respective elites in Europe and Japan, were it not for their restive
workers and the cutthroat American strategy, accommodate themselves with
the American project. They are "Atlanticists," ready to ride the American
behemoth, and join in the plunder of the South.
However, conditions have changed. Their societies are increasingly
reticent to abandon the social-democrat paradigm (social safety net)
forced upon them by the "market"; and, the U.S., having become
economically uncompetitive, turned into a consuming, unproductive country
(except in the military realm) - a debtor nation kept afloat by their own
capital (and that of China as well as the toady governments of the South)
- is no longer willing to let Europe and Japan be junior partners of the
Triad. While they conveniently winked at, or worse, associated themselves
with, the foreign US ventures in the 1990's (Iraq, Panama, Yugoslavia),
they finally realized that the second Iraq war was a unilateral decision
to control petroleum resources, and in so doing, subjugate them. The
uncertainty then happens to be: Can the European project counterbalance
American hegemony and have a modicum of social values perdure?
"Atlanticism" or "Europeanism"? That is the question.
The answer is unclear. The European project has been put on hold,
following the French and Dutch elections on the European Constitution and
the repeated, and successful, efforts by the U.S. to divide and conquer
("old" vs. "new" Europe). Germany, following its recent elections, may
return to a more Atlanticist position. The project may have been shattered
earlier by the untimely expansion of the EU to the Eastern European
countries, which in turn have joined Atlanticism. It may have been doomed
35 years ago when Britain, always an ardent Atlanticist, joined the EU.
The jury remains out on this one.
Samir Amin does not address this conundrum; but, in his evaluation, the
dangers posed by the raw aggressiveness of the United States call for a
global alliance to defeat the "Americanization of the world." He certainly
is on mark regarding the five objectives of American global strategy:
1) To neutralize and subdue the other partners of the Triad (Europe,
U.S.A., Japan) and minimize their capacity to act outside of American
control.
2) To establish military control through NATO and "Latin Americanize" the
former parts of the Soviet world.
3) To establish undivided control of the Middle East and Central Asia and
their petroleum resources.
4) To dismantle China, ensure the subordination of other large states
(India, Brazil) and prevent the formation of regional blocks which would
be able to negotiate the terms of globalization.
5) To marginalize regions of the South that have no strategic interests
for the United States.
He also properly shows that the logic of capitalism has brought waste and
inequality, and that, "the 'law of immiseration,' formulated by Marx, has
been verified in a striking manner - on a world scale - every day during
the last two centuries . . . . [that] the 'fight against poverty' has
become an unavoidable obligation in the rhetoric of the dominant groups."
(p. 30) As examples, since 1980, personal income in Latin America has
grown by only 7%; in the same period, Africa's personal income has
decreased by 15%. Amin plainly demonstrates the pauperization of the
world, especially in the South, and shows how agrarian policies devised in
the so-called First World have laid wretch in the so-called Third World -
his review of the immiseration of the South is worth reading the book by
itself.
But he puts too much hope and emphasis in the European project, and his
approach to counter American imperialism is too reminiscent of former
alliances among nations that brought world wars and mayhem in the past. He
envisages a new axis between Paris, Berlin, and Moscow - and subsequently,
or possibly, China, India, and the global South. He advocates the old
Gaullist dream of a Europe "from the Atlantic to the Ural," and then
extends it to the remaining of the world. This part of his analysis is
less convincing.
Europeans have been betraying and pilfering the South for as long as
memory can tell. Perennial agricultural subsidies have decimated local
food production for decades, as direly as the Monsantos of this world, or
the "Green Revolution," have. Capital accumulation is not an
American-centric characteristic. The European project, whatever its
rhetoric may be, has nothing to do with the betterment of humanity - it is
neo-liberalism lite. Europeans are as adept as their American counterparts
in using PR to advance their own interests. An alliance between the global
South and Europe would be a great achievement but at the moment it looks
more like wishful thinking than reality. The South would perhaps be better
served by following a Venezuelan strategy that does not ignore the North
but build upon itself. Capitalism, as Amin makes clear, is incapable of
helping the South to get out of the misery created by capitalism in the
first place. Africa would have a better chance to develop through an
alliance with Latin America than with Europe or the U.S., thus breaking
the fatal center vs. periphery relationship formulated by Ral Prebisch
(which Amin uses in his work).
To be fair, he recognizes that "Europe cannot make different choices as
long as political alliances that define the power blocs remain centered on
dominant transnational capital." He calls for "a new historic compromise
between capital and labor" in order to "distance itself from Washington"
and "begin Europe's participation in the long march 'beyond capitalism.'"
For him, "Europe will be left (the term left being taken seriously here)
or it will not be." (p. 89) This is a message of hope, but is it a reality
when, at this very moment, the economic policies being implemented all
over Europe are skewed against the working class?
In respect to the "Great Alliance" against Washington, as much as Europe
and Russia - talk about a European project? Include Russia! - are a
natural fit (geography, history), such a positive construct, if it ever
happens, should not be directed against the USA. The world is facing an
utterly violent "rogue nation" - a nation that is quite willing to use
lethal weapons, including nuclear ones, as it has done in the past. A
cold-minded apocalyptic power structure will not hesitate to pre-empt
(cf., the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, and the "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear
Operations"). The U.S. has hit a couple of noncircumventable brick walls,
the Katrina and Iraq quagmires. It does not need anybody to push it off
the cliff. It's fast approaching it on its own. A wounded bear with a
diseased mind, armed to the teeth, should best be left alone, or
confronted with the greatest care. The question is, how will the rest of
the world be able to jump off the runaway train without triggering an
American-made worldwide oblivion?
Notwithstanding these few reservations, Samir Amin offers yet again a
brilliant analysis of capitalism's destructive forces; his observations on
the cultural differences between Europe and the U.S. are superb; and he
points the way toward a possible future "beyond capitalism." The Liberal
Virus is worthy of one's library.
Amin, Samir: The Liberal Virus: Permanent War and the Americanization of
the World, Monthly Review Press, 2004, ISBN 1-58367-107-2, 128 pages,
$15.95 (paperback)
--------15 of 17--------
NOTEBOOK
On message
By Lewis H. Lapham
Harper's Magazine, October 2005, pps. 7-9
"But I venture the challenging statement that if American democracy ceases
to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means
to better the lot of our citizens, then Fascism and Communism, aided,
unconsciously perhaps, by old-line Tory Republicanism, will grow in
strength in our land."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 4, 1938
In 1938 the word "fascism" hadn't yet been transferred into an abridged
metaphor for all the world's unspeakable evil and monstrous crime, and on
coming across President Roosevelt's prescient remark in one of Umberto
Eco's essays, I could read it as prose instead of poetry - a reference
not to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or the pit of Hell but to the
political theories that regard individual citizens as the property of the
government, happy villagers glad to wave the flags and wage the wars,
grateful for the good fortune that placed them in the care of a sublime
leader. Or, more emphatically, as Benito Mussolini liked to say,
"Everything in the state. Nothing outside the state. Nothing against the
state."
The theories were popular in Europe in the 1930s (cheering crowds, rousing
band music, splendid military uniforms), and in the United States they
numbered among their admirers a good many important people who believed
that a somewhat modified form of fascism (power vested in the banks and
business corporations instead of with the army) would lead the country out
of the wilderness of the Great Depression - put an end to the
Pennsylvania labor troubles, silence the voices of socialist heresy and
democratic dissent.
Roosevelt appreciated the extent of fascism's popularity at the political
box office; so does Eco, who takes pains in the essay "Ur-Fascism,"
published in The New York Review of Books in 1995, to suggest that it's a
mistake to translate fascism into a figure of literary speech. By
retrieving from our historical memory only the vivid and familiar images
of fascist tyranny (Gestapo firing squads, Soviet labor camps, the
chimneys at Treblinka), we lose sight of the faith-based initiatives that
sustained the tyrant's rise to glory. The several experiments with fascist
government, in Russia and Spain as well as in Italy and Germany, didn't
depend on a single portfolio of dogma, and so Eco, in search of their
common ground, doesn't look for a unifying principle or a standard text.
He attempts to describe a way of thinking and a habit of mind, and on
sifting through the assortment of fantastic and often contradictory
notions - Nazi paganism, Franco's National Catholicism, Mussolini's
corporatism, etc. - he finds a set of axioms on which all the fascisms
agree. Among the most notable:
The truth is revealed once and only once.
Parliamentary democracy is by definition rotten because it doesn't
represent the voice of the people, which is that of the sublime leader.
Doctrine outpoints reason, and science is always suspect.
Critical thought is the province of degenerate intellectuals, who betray
the culture and subvert traditional values.
The national identity is provided by the nation's enemies.
Argument is tantamount to treason.
Perpetually at war, the state must govern with the instruments of fear.
Citizens do not act; they play the supporting role of "the people" in the
grand opera that is the state.
Eco published his essay ten years ago, when it wasn't as easy as it has
since become to see the hallmarks of fascist sentiment in the character of
an American government. Roosevelt probably wouldn't have been surprised.
He'd encountered enough opposition to both the New Deal and to his belief
in such a thing as a United Nations to judge the force of America's racist
passions and the ferocity of its anti-intellectual prejudice. As he may
have guessed, so it happened. The American democracy won the battles for
Normandy and Iwo Jima, but the victories abroad didn't stem the retreat of
democracy at home, after 1968 no longer moving "forward as a living force,
seeking day and night to better the lot" of its own citizens, and now that
sixty years have passed since the bomb fell on Hiroshima, it doesn't take
much talent for reading a cashier's scale at Wal-Mart to know that it is
fascism, not democracy, that won the heart and mind of America's "Greatest
Generation," added to its weight and strength on America's shining seas
and fruited plains.
A few sorehead liberal intellectuals continue to bemoan the fact, write
books about the good old days when everybody was in charge of reading his
or her own mail. I hear their message and feel their pain, share their
feelings of regret, also wish that Cole Porter was still writing songs,
that Jean Harlow and Robert Mitchum hadn't quit making movies. But what's
gone is gone, and it serves nobody's purpose to deplore the fact that
we're not still riding in a coach to Philadelphia with Thomas Jefferson.
The attitude is cowardly and French, symptomatic of effete aesthetes who
refuse to change with the times.
As set forth in Eco's list, the fascist terms of political endearment are
refreshingly straightforward and mercifully simple, many of them already
accepted and understood by a gratifyingly large number of our most
forward-thinking fellow citizens, multitasking and safe with Jesus. It
does no good to ask the weakling's pointless question, "Is America a
fascist state?" We must ask instead, in a major rather than a minor key,
"Can we make America the best damned fascist state the world has ever
seen," an authoritarian paradise deserving the admiration of the
international capital markets, worthy of "a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind"? I wish to be the first to say we can. We're Americans; we
have the money and the know-how to succeed where Hitler failed, and
history has favored us with advantages not given to the early pioneers.
We don't have to burn any books.
The Nazis in the 1930s were forced to waste precious time and money on the
inoculation of the German citizenry, too well-educated for its own good,
against the infections of impermissible thought. We can count it as a
blessing that we don't bear the burden of an educated citizenry. The
systematic destruction of the public-school and library systems over the
last thirty years, a program wisely carried out under administrations both
Republican and Democratic, protects the market for the sale and
distribution of the government's propaganda posters. The publishing
companies can print as many books as will guarantee their profit (books on
any and all subjects, some of them even truthful), but to people who don't
know how to read or think, they do as little harm as snowflakes falling on
a frozen pond.
We don't have to disturb, terrorize, or plunder the bourgeoisie.
In Communist Russia as well as in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the
codes of social hygiene occasionally put the regime to the trouble of
smashing department-store windows, beating bank managers to death,
inviting opinionated merchants on complimentary tours (all expenses paid,
breathtaking scenery) of Siberia. The resorts to violence served as study
guides for free, thinking businessmen reluctant to give up on the
democratic notion that the individual citizen is entitled to an owner's
interest in his or her own mind.
The difficulty doesn't arise among people accustomed to regarding
themselves as functions of a corporation. Thanks to the diligence of out
news media and the structure of our tax laws, our affluent and suburban
classes have taken to heart the lesson taught to the aspiring serial
killers rising through the ranks at West Point and the Harvard Business
School - think what you're told to think, and not only do you get to keep
the house in Florida or command of the Pentagon press office but on some
sunny prize day not far over the horizon, the compensation committee will
hand you a check for $40 million, or President George W. Bush will bestow
on you the favor of a nickname as witty as the ones that on good days
elevate Karl Rove to the honorific "Boy Genius," on bad days to the
disappointed but no less affectionate "Turd Blossom." Who doesn't now know
that the corporation is immortal, that it is the corporation that grants
the privilege of an identity, confers meaning on one's life, gives the
pension, a decent credit rating, and the priority standing in the
community? Of course the corporation reserves the right to open one's
email, test one's blood, listen to the phone calls, examine one's urine,
hold the patent on the copyright to any idea generated on its premises.
Why ever should it not? As surely as the loyal fascist knew that it was
his duty to serve the state, the true American knows that it is his duty
to protect the brand.
Having met many fine people who come up to the corporate mark - on golf
courses and commuter trains, tending to their gardens in Fairfield County
while cutting back the payrolls in Michigan and Mexico - I'm proud to say
(and I think I speak for all of us here this evening with Senator Clinton
and her lovely husband) that we're blessed with a bourgeoisie that will
welcome fascism as gladly as it welcomes the rain in April and the sun in
June. No need to send for the Gestapo or the NKVD; it will not be
necessary to set examples.
We don't have to gag the press or seize the radio stations.
People trained to the corporate style of thought and movement have no
further use for free speech, which is corrupting, overly emotional,
reckless, and ill-informed, not calibrated to the time available for
television talk or to the performance standards of a Super Bowl halftime
show. It is to our advantage that free speech doesn't meet the criteria of
the free market. We don't require the inspirational genius of a Joseph
Goebbels; we can rely instead on the dictates of the Nielsen ratings and
the camera angles, secure in the knowledge that the major media syndicates
run the business on strictly corporatist principles - afraid of anything
disruptive or inappropriate, committed to the promulgation of what is
responsible, rational, and approved by experts. Their willingness to stay
on message is a credit to their professionalism.
The early twentieth-century fascists had to contend with individuals who
regarded their freedom of expression as a necessity - the bone and marrow
of their existence, how they recognized themselves as human beings. Which
was why, if sometimes they refused appointments to the state-run radio
stations, they sometimes were found dead on the Italian autostrada or
drowned in the Kiel Canal. The authorities looked upon their deaths as
forms of self-indulgence. The same attitude governs the agreement reached
between labor and management at our leading news organizations. No
question that the freedom of speech is extended to every American - it
says so in the Constitution - but the privilege is one that musn't be
abused. Understood in a proper and financially rewarding light, freedom of
speech is more trouble than it's worth - a luxury comparable to owning a
racehorse and likely to bring with it little else except the risk of being
made to look ridiculous. People who learn to conduct themselves in a
manner respectful of the telephone tap and the surveillance camera have no
reason to fear the fist of censorship. By removing the chore of having to
think for oneself, one frees up more leisure time to enjoy the convenience
of the Internet services that know exactly what one likes to hear and see
and wear and eat.
We don't have to murder the intelligentsia.
Here again, we find ourselves in luck. The society is so glutted with easy
entertainment that no writer or company of writers is troublesome enough
to warrant the compliment of an arrest, or even the courtesy of a sharp
blow to the head. What passes for the American school of dissent talks
exclusively to itself in the pages of obscure journals, across the coffee
cups in Berkeley and Park Slope, in half-deserted lecture halls in small
Midwestern colleges. The author on the platform or the beach towel can be
relied upon to direct his angriest invective at the other members of the
academy who failed to drape around the title of his latest book the
garland of a rave review.
The blessings bestowed by Providence place America in the front rank of
nations addressing the problems of a twenty-first century, certain to
require bold geopolitical initiatives and strong ideological solutions.
How can it be otherwise? More pressing demands for always scarcer
resources; ever larger numbers of people who cannot be controlled except
with an increasingly heavy hand of authoritarian guidance. Who better than
the Americans to lead the fascist renaissance, set the paradigm, order the
preemptive strikes? The existence of mankind hangs in the balance; failure
is not an option. Where else but in America can the world find the
visionary intelligence to lead it bravely into the future - Donald
Rumsfeld our Dante, Turd Blossom our Michelangelo?
I don't say that over the last thirty years we haven't made brave strides
forward. By matching Eco's list of fascist commandments against our record
of achievement, we can see how well we've begun the new project for the
next millennium - the notion of absolute and eternal truth embraced by
the evangelical Christians and embodied in the strict constructions of the
Constitution; our national identity provided by anonymous Arabs; Darwin's
theory of evolution rescinded by the fiat of "intelligent design"; a state
of perpetual war and a government administering, in generous and daily
doses, the drug of fear; two presidential elections stolen with little or
no objection on the part of a complacent populace; the nation's
congressional districts gerrymandered to defend the White House for the
next fifty years against the intrusion of a liberal-minded president; the
news media devoted to the arts of iconography, busily minting images of
corporate executives like those of the emperor heroes on the coins of
ancient Rome.
An impressive beginning, in line with what the world has come to expect
from the innovative Americans, but we can do better. The early
twentieth-century fascisms didn't enter their golden age until the
proletariat in the countries that gave them birth had been reduced to
abject poverty. The music and the marching songs rose with the cry of
eagles from the wreckage of the domestic economy. On the evidence of the
wonderful work currently being done by the Bush Administration with
respect to the trade deficit and the national debt - to say nothing of
expanding the markets for global terrorism - I think we can look forward
with confidence to character-building bankruptcies, picturesque bread
riots, thrilling cavalcades of splendidly costumed motorcycle police.
--------16 of 17--------
WH Auden
Epitaph on a tyrant
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
--------17 of 17--------
One good thing about
Benito - he's not Adolph!
That's enough for me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- David Shove shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
rhymes with clove Progressive Calendar
over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02
please send all messages in plain text no attachments
- (no other messages in thread)
Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.