Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 04.05.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R 0 G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     04.05.06

l. Fed budget 101     4.05 12noon
2. Military spending  4.05 3pm
3. Anti-torture       4.05 6:30pm
4. Landmine dinner    4.05 6:30pm
5. Social forum       4.05 6:30pm
6. Sami/Iraq          4.05 7pm
7. Afghanistan/film   4.05 7pm
8. Landmine/film      4.05 7pm
9. Selling dem/films  4.05-08 7pm

10. Dakota rights     4.06 8:30am
11. Fed budget        4.05 9am (rsvp 4.05)
12. PlanedParenthood  4.06 11:30am
13. Sami/Iraq         4.06 12noon
14. Intl Law/Bush     4.06 12noon
15. Save PioneerPress 4.06 12:30pm
16. Northtown vigil   4.06 5pm
17. Small/beautiful   4.06 5pm
18. Class & choice    4.06 6pm
19. False reporting   4.06 6pm
20. AWC new members   4.06 7pm

21. Ron Jacobs - Capital is not god

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From: erin [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Fed budget 101 4.05 12noon

Wednesday, April 5, noon to 1:30 at the Minnesota Women's Building.

Does the Federal Budget seem like an impossible "beast" to understand? In
this time of an ever-growing federal deficit, would you like to know how
federal money is allocated? Well then join the Minnesota Women's
Consortium in conjunction with Women's Action for New Directions (WAND)
for a special Federal Budget Brown Bag Discussion. Jennifer Ortiz of WAND
will do a briefing on the how's and why's that go into the federal budget
and how this affects Minnesota. For more information and to RSVP contact
Bharti at 651/228-0338 or email Bharti [at] mnwomn.org.


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From: Doris G. Marquit <marqu001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Military spending 4.05 3pm

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Minnesota Metro Branch,
announces a
Special WILPF event on military spending.

Wed April 5, 3 to 5pm, Board Room at 2104 Stevens Ave. So., Minneapolis
(parking on street and behind the building)

Come and hear Jennifer Ortiz, field outreach associate from Women's Action
for New Directions (WAND) discuss federal spending priorities and the
military budget, including what these priorities mean for our state of
Minnesota.  WAND's goal is to shine a light on the U.S. budget--cuts to
human needs programs, rising deficits, rising spending on militarism--and
to bring women's voices to the table where decisions are being made about
our communities and families.

Free, refreshments served.
Ffi: 651-458-7090 or 651-633-4410


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From: Dave Bicking  <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: Anti-torture 4.05 6:30pm

This Wednesday, and every Wednesday, meeting of the anti- torture group,
T3: Tackling Torture at the Top (a sub-group of WAMM).  Note new location:
Center School, 2421 Bloomington Ave. S., Mpls.

We have also added a new feature:  we will have an "educate ourselves"
session before each meeting, starting at 6:30, for anyone who is
interested in learning more about the issues we are working on.  We will
share info and stay current about torture in the news.


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From: MJShahidiusa [at] aol.com
Subject: Landmine dinner 4.05 6:30pm

We are removing land-mines in AFGHANISTAN. This year, the Minnesota NIGHT
OF A THOUSAND DINNERS to raise money for this project is at Da Afghan
Restaurant. For $20.00, you can have a buffet of original Afghani food and
socialize with like-minded people. $10.00 shall go for ladmine removal. We
will show a short documentary on the international land mines problem and
all the good things being done by ordinary folk like us and celebrities
like Michael Douglas, Katherine Zeta Jones, Angelina Jollie and the
McArthys:

Da Afghan Restaurant, 929 West 80th Street, Bloomington, MN 55420,
952-888-5824.

WEDNESDAY April 5, any time between 6:30 and 9pm. Film at 8pm.

PLEASE CALL THE RESTAURANT FOR RESERVATION or call Jay Shahidi at
612-328-1913 for questions.

ORGANIZED BY THE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION, MINNESOTA DIVISION and DA AFGHAN
RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT.


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Social forum 4.05 6:30pm

An April 5 info session and mobilization for Midwest Social Forum 2006
will be held at the Resource Center of the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Ave
So, Minneapolis, 6:30 pm.

The Midwest Social Forum (MWSF) will be held July 6-9, 2006 in Milwaukee.
It will be a gathering of grassroots organizations, community activists,
artists, working people, educators, students, and others committed to
social justice movement building.

Join us in our efforts to get broad participation for social justice
movements in Minnesota.

The April 5th session will be an opportunity to meet others, to get some
background on the social forum process, and to beginning planning
activities together to take place at the Forum

For information about the MWSF, organizing activities and submitting
proposals, and registration information visit www.mwsocialforum.org
<http://www.mwsocialforum.org>.

Larry Olds 3322 15th Ave S Minneapolis MN 55407 USA 612/722-3442


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From: Jess Sundin <jess [at] antiwarcommittee.org>
Subject: Sami/Iraq 4.05 7pm

Eyewitness Iraq!

Wednesday 4/5 @ 7pm, West Bank Auditorium, University of MN Sami Rasouli,
an Iraqi-American who returned to Iraq to try to rebuild peace, will be
sharing his experiences in Iraq and giving us an insight the US media will
not let us see. Co-sponsored by AWOL and Socialist Alternative


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From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Afghanistan/film 4.05 7pm

April 5 - Film: Afghanistan Unveiled. 7pm. Cost: Free and open to the
public.

The Women s Human Rights Program at Minnesota Advocates and The Friends of
the Saint Paul Public Library present the Women s Human Rights Film Series

Afghanistan Unveiled

A film by Brigitte Brault and the Aina Women's Film Group

About the film: This rare and uncompromising film explores the effects on
Afghani women of the Taliban s repressive rule and the U.S. sponsored
bombing campaign.  Except for one, none of the 14 journalist trainees were
able to study or pursue careers while the Taliban was in power, and none
had ever left Kabul.  Afghanistan Unveiled presents heartbreaking footage
from rural regions of the country Hazara women whose lives have been
decimated by recent events.  Lacking water and electricity and having
little or no food, the women have been left to live in caves and fend for
themselves, abandoned following the U.S. invasion. Despite scenes of
tragedy, the filmmakers manage to find examples of hope for the future in
this poetic journey of self-discovery.

Following the film, Mary Hunt of Minnesota Advocates and Linda Cullen,
photojournalist who has worked in Afghanistan, will facilitate a
discussion.

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: Arlington Hills Branch Library, 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul


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From: Shanai Matteson <matt0423 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Landmine/film 4.05 7pm

SCIENCE ON SCREEN
The Red Gold
Wednesday, April 5, 7pm
Bell Museum Auditorium
$2 suggested donation

A controversial documentary by Denmark's Signe Moelgaard that delivers on
all fronts - facts, characters, and a plot loaded with intrigue. Two young
Danish scientists have come up with a remarkable invention: a genetically
modified plant that can detect land mines. Lab tests show the plant turns
from green to red whenever it comes in contact with explosives. If the
plant holds up on real soil, the invention will be worth millions. Never
mind the lives that can be saved, red gold is a venture capitalist's
dream. The scientists, funded by private investors, take their plant to
the land mine studded soil of Angola for tests, accompanied by a British
mine expert. Further investment in their invention hinges on his report.
But nothing goes as planned. And a tense, psychological drama unfolds.

SCIENCE ON SCREEN is a monthly film series cosponsored by Minnesota Film
Arts and the Bell Museum of Natural History.  For more information visit
www.bellmuseum.org.


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Selling dem/films 4.05-08 7pm

"Selling Democracy":Cold War propaganda films @ Walker Art Ctr.
by Lydia Howell
PULSE, Grassroots Alternative Newspapre of the TC

[This notice will be printed this ONCE; SAVE if you're interested -ed]

Debates about "bringing democracy" to Arab countries, it's perfect timing
for "Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan 1949-1953. Part of
"de-Nazification" while rebuilding war-torn Europe after WWII, these U.S.
government-sponsored films were buried for almost 60 years, screening Wed.
April 5th through Sat. April 8th at Walker Art Center.

"Developed by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, it was true
PARTNERSHIP. Marshall said, 'The business of building Europe is the
business of EUROPEANS. All the U.S. can do is lend a hand.' The Europeans
developed agencies of their own, which planned the rebuilding, deciding
how money got divided. Ultimately, these agencies became the European
Union and the Common Market," observes Sandra Schulberg, co-curator of the
series. "These films are so relevent. The challenges are so similar to
what we face now. It's a rare opportunity to see how we handled it once
before."

Her father, Stuart Schulberg, headed the Film Division of the Marshall
Plan. Unlike current media campaigns in the Middle East, most film-makers
in "Selling Democracy" were European. Another contrast to contemporary
reconstruction in Iraq via Halliburton and American contract employees,
was that Europeans were re-employed rebuilding their homes and industries.
In our outsourced age, the 'triumphant labor" images permeating many of
this films create edgy nostalgia.

"Many of the people making these films were Left-leaning, with socialist
views or had respect for the working-class," Schulberg said, noting that
after the invasion of Korea in June 1950, co-operative internationalism
increasinly gave way to anti-communist re-miliarization. "There's a wide
spectrum of films: straightforward, technical assistance. Docudramas
instilled hope about the future. Satire. Even fiction and animation. They
were aware that they had to make them entertaining."

Each night offerings has a different theme and includes post-screening
discussion led by various scholars of European history and politics.
Here's this writer's favorites:

"Out of the Ruins", Wednesday, April 5th, exposes war's destruction
timelessly. "Hunger" is elegiac images of suffering across the continent.
The Cannes-prize-winning "Houen Zo" shows Rotterdam, destroyed and rising
from the rubble. "Life and Death of a Cave City" is a rare color film, set
in Italy. Intimations of the Cold War appear in "The Bridge" as the U.S.
Air Force airlifts aid to West Berlin when the U.S.S.R. blocks all roads.

"Help Is On The Way", Thursday,April 6th, is a tour of American can-do
spirit collaborating with 17 European nations and the city-state of
Trieste. Mixing charm and practicality, one feels pride (mingled with
loss) for what America meant in post-war Europe.

"True Fiction", Friday, April 7th, breaks off from dcuemtnary with dramas
and comedy.  "The Smiths and the Robinsons" is an amusing look at the
British class system in the post-WWII continued rationing of meat, TVs and
cars. Its envious "consumer competition" is recognizable (in magnified
form) today. "Aquilla", the struggles of one unemployed husband and
father, is a magnificient example of early Italian "neo-realism", that
flowered in the 1950s with giants like di Sicca. Its black and white
images resonate with feeling.

"Strength for the Free World", Saturday, April 8th plunges into Cold War
propaganda, with surprisingly artistic anti-communism. Made by the Mutual
Security Agency, Cold War absurdity appears in films like "Do Not
Disturb". A satirical sendup of Communist critique of Western consuermism,
this short film simutaneously sells American products as the ultimate
"good life". "Whitsun Holiday" treads similar ground, comparing how
Western (capitalist) and Eastern (communist) citizens spend vacation.
Hilariously hamfisted, it's hard to imagine anyone being convinced by
these films. "Hour of Choice", mixing film and animation, attains real art
in its clarion call to 'choose sides" in the intensifying battle with the
U.S.S.R. Democracy is represented in watercolored pastoral scenes that
clash with ominously expressionist communism, as gorgeous as todays'
computered-generated animation.

"What does "Selling Democracy" say about what's going on today? I wish we
were empowering people in Iraq and Afghanistan to tell their own stories.
This was actually a mini-Marshall Plan for European film-makers, who went
on to have careers in film and television," Schulberg says. Her father was
trilingual and educated in Europe, unlike Bush's fellow Texan Karen
Hughes, leading public relations efforts to "improve America's image" in
the Middle East. She underscores the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.,
created in gratitude for America's aiding European recovery, funds
cross-cultural exchanges 60 years later, including this film series.

"We got it right once [with the Marshall Plan]. Americans can see that
program was well-designed to benefit all sides. George Marshall had a
broad vision and rose above national borders, people in partnership with
the same struggle to have a decent life-- the same struggle we see today,"
Schulberg sounds wistfull. "We can be so heavy-footed! But, we can also
act with grace and intelligence, in partnership, without imposing the
American viewpoint. The Marshall Plan was all about dialogue."

Hear Sandra Schulberg, on KFAI's "Catalyst" (3/21) archived www.kfai.org

"Selling Democracy", $8gen/$6 Walker members, Wed. April 5 through Sat.
April 8, 7pm, Walker Art Ctr., 1750 Hennepin Ave. (next to Sculpture
Garden), Minneapolis, (612)375-7600 www.walkerart.org


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From: Susu Jeffrey <susujeffrey [at] msn.com>
Subject: Dakota rights 4.06 8:30am

Support Dakota Treaty Rights
Support the U.S. Constitution
Second Court Appearance

Thursday, April 6
8:30am gathering of defendants and supporters
180 East 5th Street, 7th Floor, Courtroom 5
St. Paul (on 5th between Jackson and Sibley)

United States of America versus
Jim Anderson, Cultural Chair, Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
Susu Jeffrey, founder, Friends of Coldwater
Chris Mato Nunpa, Indigenous Nations and Dakota Studies professor, Southwest
MSU at Marshall
Court begins at 9am

The case involves the Dakota-Pike Treay of 1805. On October 14, 2005, two
Dakota men were ticketed after entering the Minneapolis Coldwater Spring
area, without government permits, to exercise their treaty rights. The
petty misdemeanor $125-offense was described as "fail/comply w/off
order/signal."

Inside the fenced-off area, Jim Anderson (Dakota) led a Pipe Ceremony with
Professor Chris Mato Nunpa (Dakota) and ten supporters. During the
ceremony 25 more held a prayer circle outside the fence. Mato Nunpa,
Indigenous Studies professor at Minnesota State University at Marshall,
and Anderson, Cultural Chair of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community,
each received a U.S. District Court violation notice. Susu Jeffrey
(non-Indian) was ticketed the previous week, on October 7, 2005.

The Treaty of 1805 was the first of several treaties signed between the
Dakota Oyate (nation) and the United States of America. Article 3 of the
treaty states, "The U.S. promise on their part to permit the Sioux to
pass, re-pass, hunt and do other things as they have formerly done in said
district."

"We know that the falls which came to be known as Minnehaha Falls, was a
sacred place, a neutral place, a place for many nations to come.  And that
the spring from which the sacred water should be drawn was not very far, a
spring that all nations used to draw the sacred water for the ceremony,"
Anishinabeg spiritual elder Eddie Benton Benais told Minnesota officials
during court ordered testimony in March of 1999.

Benais said the mile and a half between Minnehaha Falls and Coldwater
Spring "sacred grounds that were mutually held to be a sacred place" by
Upper Mississippi tribes who regularly gathered there including Dakota,
Anishinabeg, Ho Chunk, Iowa, and Sauk and Fox nations. Coldwater, south of
Minnehaha Park, is an ancient spring, an acknowledged sacred site, and the
last spring of size in the Twin Cities flowing at about 100,000 gallons a
day.

Hydrologists say Coldwater Spring is 10,000-years-old, flowing even under
the last glacier. The spring forms a creek, wetland, and waterfall
descending 130-feet down the Mississippi gorge.

Constitution of the United States
Article 6, Section 2
Supreme Law of the Land
2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the
land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in
the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

(Pike) Treaty with the Sioux, 1805
ARTICLE 3.
The United States promise on their part to permit the Sioux to pass,
repass, hunt or make other uses of the said districts, as they have
formerly done, without any other exception, but those specified in article
first.


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From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Fed budget 4.06 9am (rsvp 4.05)

Invitation: WAND's Federal Budget Workshop

Please let me know (by phone: 612-827-5364, or email: wamm @mtn.org)  if
you are interested in attending a workshop put on by WAND (Women's Action
for New Directions) regarding the Federal Budget.

The workshop will be held at the Sabathani Community Center (where the
WAMM office is located) on April 6 from 9am to 5pm and the cost is $25.00
(scholarships are available).

Space is limited to 15 participants so be sure to let me know as soon as
possible (and no later than Wednesday, April 5th) if you would like to
reserve a spot.  I will email confirmation and additional details to those
who register on Wednesday, April 5th.


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From: erin [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: PlanedParenthood 4.06 11:30am

Thursday, April 6: Planned Parenthood MN/ND/SD, Make Yourself Heard!

Lunch. You'll hear from representatives of the local media, as well as
Planned Parenthood legislative expert Connie Perpich and Public Affairs
director Tim Stanley. 11:30am-1pm. The Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall,
Minneapolis. $35 includes lunch. RSVP with Allison at 651/696-5520.
www.ppmns.org


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From: braun044 <braun044 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Sami/Iraq 4.06 12noon

April 6, Thurs.  - College of St. Catherine, Current Events and Coffee
12noon. Coeur de Catherine #210, 2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul


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From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Intl Law/Bush 4.06 12noon

April 6 - Preventive Self-Defense: New Standards to Fill the Gap between
Existing International Law and the Bush Doctrine.  12noon

Speaker: Michael Doyle Columbia University
Speaking on Preventive Self-Defense: New Standards to Fill the Gap between
Existing International Law and the Bush Doctrine

Michael Doyle holds a joint appointment to the Law School and the School
of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Before coming to Columbia, he was a professor of politics and
international affairs at Princeton, though for two years he was on leave
to work as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special advisor.

Doyle is the author of Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism, and
Socialism.

Please join us for what should be a very interesting presentation!

Location: Humphrey Institute, Wilkins Room (room 215), University of Minnesota West Bank,
Minneapolis, MN


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Reply-To: notice-reply-usb7wn4z7wm7mj [at] unionvoice.org
Subject: Save PioneerPress 4.06 12:30pm

RALLY TO SAVE THE PIONEER PRESS
Join your colleagues, friends and readers as we come together to defend a
great newspaper

Thursday April 6 from 12:30 to 1:30pm
In front of the Pioneer Press building, 345 Cedar St, Downtown St. Paul

Speaking on the need to maintain two strong newspapers in the
Twin Cities:
Attorney General Mike Hatch
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman
Urban Journalism Workshop Executive Director Lynda McDonnell
UFCW Local 789 Director of Organizing Bernie Hesse


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From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 4.06 5pm

We have changed time and day of the NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil to 5 to 6 pm,
every Thursday, at the intersection of Co. Hwy 10 and University Ave NE
(SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park, Fridley,
and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


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From: Jesse Mortenson <jmortenson [at] Macalester.edu>
Subject: Small is beautiful 04.06 5pm

First and third Tuesdays of the month
12.02 5pm
Cahoots coffeehouse
Selby 1/2 block east of Snelling in StPaul

Limit bigboxes, chain stores, TIF, corporate welfare, billboards; promote
small business and co-ops, local production & self-sufficiency.

http://www.gpsp.org/goodbusiness


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From: ewomenwin [at] mnwpc.org
Subject: Class & choice 4.06 6pm

Coffeehouse Series this Thursday, April 6!

The Minnesota Women's Political Caucus is excited to present you with
another session in our Coffeehouse Series. Each discussion in the series
addresses a different aspect of reproductive choice.

CHOICE AT A PRICE: CLASS & CHOICE
Thursday, April 6, 6-7pm
Betsy's Back Porch, 5447 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, 612-827-8283

Featured speaker: Veronica Flake, Access and Equity Coordinator,
Pro-Choice Resources

The economic barriers to reproductive health care are overwhelming.
Financial assistance to women, especially young women, women of color and
poor women, was stripped in 1977 when the Hyde Amendment eliminated
Medicaid funding to pay for the costs of an abortion. Consequently, the
Hersey Abortion Assistance Fund was born. The mission of Hersey Abortion
Assistance Fund is to dismantle the economic barriers that make vital
reproductive health care inaccessible for too many women.

Access and Equity Coordinator Veronica Flake from Pro-Choice Resources
will lead the discussion on Thursday, April 6 from 6-7 p.m. at Betsy's
Back Porch Coffee in Minneapolis.

The coffeehouse series is free and open to the public. Please RSVP at
women [at] mnwpc.org or call 651-228-0995.


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From: Michelle Gross <mgresist [at] minn.net>
Subject: False reporting law 4.06 6pm

COMMUNITY FORUM ON FALSE REPORTING LAW
Thursday, April 6
6-8pm
Minneapolis Urban League
2100 Plymouth Avenue N, Minneapolis
For more info, call 612-302-3100 or 612-874-7867

CUAPB, in conjunction with the Minneapolis Urban League, the Council on
Black Minnesotans, the African American Leadership Summit and the Black
Church Coalition, is holding a Minnesota Pipeline Community Forum on the
so-called "false reporting" law.  This awful law, which was passed by
last-year's legislature, criminalizes the reporting of police brutality
incidents that can't be proven true--which is many of the cases we see.
Clearly this is meant to discourage people from even trying to report
police misconduct.  As recipients of the majority of abuse, people of
color and poor people will be most adversely affected by this terrible
law.  But they aren't the only ones.  Even reporting about another
person's experience with police can get you in trouble under this
law--putting activists, journalists and lawyers at risk.

Please join us for a fascinating panel discussion of this law, who is
affected and how, and what people are doing about it.


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From: Jess Sundin <jess [at] antiwarcommittee.org>
Subject: AWC new members 4.06 7pm

Join the Anti War Committee: New Members Meeting

Thursday 4/6 @ 7pm-9pm @ UTech Building in Dinkytown Room 102A (1313 5th
Street SE, Minneapolis)
Interested in helping us plan our upcoming events? Got extra time that
you want to use to change the world? We have a cozy spot for you at our
meetings.


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Capital Is Not God
by Ron Jacobs
www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar06/Jacobs31.htm
March 31, 2006

Back in the 1990s, when I was part of a union organizing effort at the
University of Vermont, one of the assumptions expressed by the school's
administration was the inevitability of the university's continuing
corporatization. This assumption was also shared by many of the workers
that we were attempting to organize. Furthermore, the assumption was not
one specific to the university. Indeed, it was actually usually expressed
as part of a larger reality that assumed that the world was going to
continue down a path that would result in the ultimate supremacy of the
world's largest corporations and banks running everything. Most of these
businesses were naturally US-owned, even if they had their offices
overseas.

Now, the aspect of this whole series of assumptions that irked me the most
wasn't that the corporations (and, locally, the university's
administration and trustees) told us that this was a good thing. Nor was
it that they acted like this scenario was a natural thing, because,
according to the laws of capitalist accumulation, it was. No, what irked
me the most (and still irks me) is the attempt to portray this form of
monopoly capitalism and corporate takeover of every part of our lives as
something over which no one has any control. This portrayal is so complete
that most workers, especially in the US (where capitalism reigns supreme)
honestly believe that there is nothing they can do but submit. When your
company tells you that they are gutting your pension plan, you submit.
When your medical premiums increase three hundred percent, you submit.
When your pay is reduced in the name of making a concession, you submit.
It's as if these attacks on your livelihood are not mere attempts by the
owners and their executives to maintain their profit levels, but are
instead edicts from heaven that no one dare not obey.

This consciousness exists not only in our work lives. It is also
omnipresent in our government, where we elect men and women who gut the
minimal economic protections that existed for the least among us so that
we can provide tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the world. In
addition, we ignore the obvious attempts to legalize every form of graft
and corruption while we excuse those politicians who happen to be busted
committing crimes of corruption that have yet to be legalized. It's as if
we as a people have given up our lives to some omnipotent god and that god
not only controls our social beings, he controls our entire selves. The
false consciousness of capitalism has so thoroughly taken over our minds
that we no longer have anything even approaching souls.  Anybody that
dares to point this out is immediately branded as someone who is, at best,
not a team player and, at worst, an anarchist or a criminal. Or maybe even
(god forbid) a terrorist!

In between the latter group of folks who are willing to accept such labels
for the sake of honesty (to themselves at least) and those at the top who
insist on the eternal truths of their capitalist road are those millions
that either know something is wrong but just don't know what it is or
don't think they can do anything about it. So, they look elsewhere for
their solace. Religion and sports. Drugs and music. Sex and TV. It's like
John Lennon sang; we think we're so clever and classless and free.  We
drink our water from plastic bottles and love our MP3s. We praise Jesus on
Sunday or meditate after work. We grumble about the price of gas while we
fill our gas tank and get pissed about the cost of medicine. Women and men
kill and die in our name and our children make assumptions about their
world that we have taught them. Their entire world may be privatized and
their jobs will be more disposable than ours appear to be. Health care
will not be assumed by them and social security ancient history. Only one
thing will be certain. The mighty temple of mammon will continue to grow
ever higher and the humans that think they are gods will be ever closer to
the heavens.

France Shows the Way

In a recent Newsweek column economist Robert Samuelson mocked the protests
by French workers and youth against the proposed youth employment law
known as the CPE or (what the protesters prefer to call)  the Kleenex law.

Samuelson, who seems to accept the aforementioned supremacy of the
neoliberal marketplace (and its inevitable victory over all), wrote: "the
student protesters in France think that if they march long enough...they
can make the future go away. No such luck." He continued, enumerating the
various global capitalist arguments against the so-called welfare state
and its economic unviability in today's modern world. According to this
mindset, the decision by many governments to dismantle their systems of
national health care, public education, subsidized housing, and old age
security is not a matter of choice, but one of necessity. If such cuts are
not made, say the cuts' proponents, there will be no future.

Of course, this is simply not true. What this mindset's adherents really
mean is that maintaining the current systems of health, education and
general welfare for the general population would require bucking the
system of international capitalist accumulation and profiteering. It would
mean that all of that money being made by so very few corporations and
banks would have to be put back into the various national economies from
which it has been taken. The entire international economic system of the
past sixty years would have to be re-examined and redesigned. In short,
new choices would have to be made. Choices that put people, not profit,
first. Choices that would provide decent work for all of those wishing to
work. This is what the French youth and workers are telling their
government and the corporations that it kowtows to. This is what the last
decade of protests against the WTO and the rest of the international
economic system have been about. Poverty and war are not inevitable.
Indeed, they are part of the reason why people leave their countries in
the southern hemisphere to work in the northern one. On the other side of
that coin, they are also underneath the reason nativist elements want to
send immigrants back to their home countries and lock down the borders.
The economics of neo-imperialism force the logic of the dollar on them
all, causing the breakup of families and the growth of unreasonable fears.
Fears that serve the interests of the financial masters behind it all.
While immigration is certainly part of the natural evolution of human
history, the economics of global capital have certainly forced many to
leave the places they prefer to live. A system that put people first would
either leave those people alone or create good jobs where they live, not
where capital goes.

The protests against the job law, the WTO and IMF, and totalitarian
immigration laws are the results of conscious choices made by a relatively
small number of the earth's inhabitants. The protests in France are a wake
up call to all of us. It's time we started making our own choices. Because
they are bound by their need for profit, the masters of capital have
proven that they are incapable of doing so. A French student in Paris
stated the situation quite clearly: "You can't treat people like slaves.
Giving all the power to the bosses is going too far." (Reuters, 3/28/06)

Ron Jacobs is a library worker and anti-imperialist activist who lives in
Asheville, North Carolina. He is the author of The Way the Wind Blew:  A
Hstory of the Weather Underground (Verso 1997).

[Eat the rich. Roto-root capitalist crap our of your brain. Get off your
knees, stand up, take it all back. -ed]

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   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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