People Before Profit blog

Book review: Can capitalism last?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:45:00 +0000

New book by American Communist explores answers to question of our time

BOOK REVIEW

Can Capitalism Last?

By Daniel Rubin

, 2009, 196 pp, $10

“Marxism is dead. Socialism is dead. What better proof than the collapse of the Soviet Union? What better proof than the collapse of the socialist countries in Eastern Europe? What better proof than the apparent return of at least many features of capitalism in China and Vietnam? Socialism might be a nice ideal but it doesn’t work in the real world. The fact that socialism is gaining many adherents today in Latin America, Asia and other continents doesn’t really mean much. They’ll end up just like the other countries where socialism collapsed. In any case, socialism really doesn’t have any value for workers in the United States today. It has nothing to offer in their fight for a better life.” That, in short, is the essence of what capitalists today have to say about socialism.

They have very little to say, however, about how we can solve the great social problems of our time.

Communists in the United States say that the social problems of our time cannot be solved by capitalism and that socialism is, in fact, more of a necessity today than it ever was before. They also say that this makes understanding the fundamentals of Marxism from the perspective of the U.S. experience more important than ever.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to this understanding is that there has been a paucity of books by American Communist writers that lays bare the fundamentals of Marxism from the U.S. perspective. The last such attempts from other countries (Britain and the Soviet Union, for example) were made between 1950 and 1960.

All that has changed now with the publication of Daniel Rubin’s “Can Capitalism Last – a Marxist Update.” Rubin is the author of several works on Marxist theory and is a member of the national board of the Communist Party USA.

Rubin’s book examines the main aspects of Marxism and shows how critical they are to the struggles for progress we witness every day. His book manages to cover all the major aspects of Marxism in a 196-page volume along with updating some concepts. He manages to take the fundamentals of Marxism, build upon them and apply the methodology to the new developments of our day.

Hard to believe? Well, in this case, reading is believing.

The book is an excellent introduction to Marxism for newcomers to the subject. No new student of Marxism will put the book down remaining unable to answer the questions “What is Marxism?” and “How and why did it come into existence?”

For those who already profess to be Marxists, Rubin pulls together the most important subjects of Marxism in clear, simple fashion and makes major applications to U.S. circumstances. His description of the current period of history, for example, is outstanding. He shows how proper use of Marxist methodology and tools brings us to an assessment of this period as the “transnational monopoly phase of the monopoly capitalist stage of imperialism.” He updates Marxism. In so doing he considers and gives full credit to the achievements of the world Communist movement in the Soviet Union, Cuba, China and other places while also discussing the failures and inadequacies in both theory and practice during the Stalin period and in the collapse of socialist countries.

He catches everyone who has ever read a book on the fundamentals of Marxism completely off guard by turning on its head the way all other books present this subject matter.

Books on the fundamentals of Marxism almost always begin with the most general and then discuss the more particular. The typical approach is to start with the most universal of objective processes – dialectical materialism (which, by the way, he fully explains in this book), then historical materialism and then political economy. The typical such book only then goes on to the more subjective issues: identifying the forces for progress, the strategies and tactics needed to move forward and then, last, socialism and what it takes to win it.

Rubin, however, begins where most people begin. He starts with the huge social problems people face. He defines the great problems of our day and then asks and, in a systematic Marxist manner, answers questions like: Are these problems inherent in capitalism? Can they be eliminated from capitalism, or at least ameliorated while Capitalism is still in existence? If they cannot be eliminated does it mean capitalism is doomed? If so, then what will follow? Is it socialism or can it be something else? Can socialism create the conditions for solving the social problems? If so, how do we win socialism? Who has to do what for it to come about? Where does the Communist Party fit into the picture?

For the answers to these and many other questions you will have to read the book. When you finally put the book down you will be faced with making one of only two logical choices. (1) Go back to the struggle for a better world invigorated with new knowledge and energy or (2) get involved in the struggle. After all, as someone once said: “Philosophers interpret the world. The point, however, is to change it.”

jwojcik@pww.org

Ask for the book at your local library or bookstore, or order it directly from the publisher at this link .

Colombian paramilitaries serve Chavez opposition

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:35:00 +0000

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez asserted June 21 that the governments of Táchira and Zulia, states bordering on Colombia, now rely upon Colombian paramilitaries to promote destabilization. Both governments are in the hands of Chávez political opponents whom the president regularly characterizes as “fascist.” A separatist movement has materialized in both places.

Some of the paramilitaries apprehended by police are identified with the Colombian “Black Eagle” groups, although security forces of the two states are also implicated.

Interior minister Tareck El Aissami went to Táchira last week as part of a new campaign to monitor activities of “violent agents from Colombia” aimed at creating “an autonomous enclave of the two states similar to the separatist “half moon” area of eastern Bolivia.

President Chávez threatened Táchira governor César Pérez with a charge of treason. He highlighted Pérez’ call from Bogota last month for “help in the fight against the tyrant Chávez.” Perez was warned he “would end up in Lima playing dominoes there with the other one.” Former Zulia governor and mayor of Maracaibo Manuel Rosales found asylum in Peru earlier this year after fleeing prosecution for corruption.

Rosales ran as the main opposition candidate in Venezuela’s 2006 presidential election campaign. Zulia state legislators recently approved a study inquiring into the feasibility of autonomy.

Intelligence data associate the paramilitary incursions with assassination plans against President Chávez, mine laying, drug dealing and movement of contraband. Paramilitary groups are allegedly responsible for a dozen murders recently in three Zulia municipalities. Táchira’s crime rate is up 43 percent.

President Chávez called upon Venezuelans to carry out “popular intelligence” against paramilitary infiltration. “We must organize the people, it’s not only a job for our comrades in the armed forces,” he said.

In an interview last week with television talk show host and former education minister Aristóbulo Istúriz, Interior Minister El Aissami told how the Táchira governor had colluded with landowning and business groups to form a “Council of Human Security.” Its purpose is to organize paramilitary “shock groups to undertake social extermination.”

Thus the specter of “social cleansing” was raised, reminiscent of killings of marginalized people in Colombia to provide corpses that could be passed off as guerrilla insurgent casualties. In Venezuela, paramilitaries have handed out flyers threatening death to prostitutes, homeless people, drug dependent persons, gang members and thieves. Parents received warnings to keep children home at night during “the hour of social cleansing.”

Infiltration by Colombian paramilitaries is not new. Authorities arrested 31 of them in Caracas in January under charges of stealing weapons and explosives in Maracay. Some 130 paramilitaries detained in 2004 near the capital were reportedly training to carry out assassinations and assist in a military uprising. The murders in Venezuela of over 200 proponents of land reform are attributed to paramilitaries.

Marcelo Colussi interviewed author Dario Azzellini last year on the aporrea.org web site. The analyst described how Colombian paramilitaries find cover in Venezuela by working in the informal economy and joining a large Colombian migrant population already in place. He claimed the insertion of Colombian paramilitaries into Venezuela, especially in poor urban neighborhoods, follows patterns set in Colombia.

There, the armed forces and state agencies, backed by the U.S. government, serve under orders from the elite to utilize paramilitaries to destabilize popular forces. Azzellini sees a similar process underway in Venezuela where paramilitaries carry out economic sabotage, engineer shortages, obstruct elections and create an atmosphere of fear. The object, he suggests, is “to mount an operation similar to that of the Contras in Nicaragua, but updated.” [In the 1980s, the U.S.-funded armed opposition to Nicaragua’s Sandinista government were called “Contras.”]

Azzellini sees Táchira, close to the Colombian paramilitary epicenter Cucuta, as a way station for paramilitaries heading for central parts of Venezuela. Zulia serves a similar function, according to Aristóbulo Istúriz,

The Merida newspaper Diario de los Andes interviewed Governor César Pérez. The self-described patriot and defender of the constitution rejected suggestions he was dividing the nation. He only wants “a separation from communism,” adding that “Treason is sending our resources to the dictator in Havana.”

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Financial crisis unprecedented since 1930s

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:09:00 +0000

Thalif Deen interviews SUPACHAI PANITCHPAKDI, secretary-general, U.N. Conference on Trade and Development

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 22 (IPS) - Since the Great Depression of the 1930s, there have been more than 100 crises worldwide, says the secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi.

But many are saying the current global financial crisis is something 'the likes of which we have not seen for 70 years or more.'

And the scale of the crisis is 'unprecedented' because of its impact worldwide, said Supachai, who heads an inter-governmental body that is the primary U.N. organ dealing with trade, investment and development issues.

Asked whether the U.N. summit on the global financial crisis, scheduled to take place Jun. 24-26, will come up with answers, he said: 'Given the U.N.'s universal membership, I believe this conference will be a major contribution to collective global efforts to find answers to the crisis.'

'However, it would be wrong to assume that one conference could provide all the answers to such a complex global problem. Rather, resolving the problem should be seen as an ongoing process,' Supachai said in an interview with U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

IPS: Do you consider the United Nations - not the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - the right forum to address the current global economic crisis? if so, why?

Supachai Panitchpakdi: Initially, the distinction between the U.N. and the two Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and the IMF, which were created at a special United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held towards the end of the Second World War - was artificial.

The conference was called to rebuild the international economic system and set up multilateral sets of rules, institutions and procedures to regulate the international monetary system. The distinction between the U.N. and Bretton Woods institutions is something that developed over time, especially because since the 1950s there has been an intense debate on whether the U.N. should have a financing role or not.

To some extent, the growing segmentation between these subsystems has contributed to the lack of coherence and coordination in the international economic system and the global economic problems we face today.

For me, therefore, the important question is not which subsystem provides the 'right forum' to address the current global economic crisis, but how these subsystems can work together to address the absence of systemic coherence between the international financial and trading systems and the unsustainable imbalances in the international economic system.

IPS: What is the role of UNCTAD at the conference? What are UNCTAD's contributions to the outcome document currently under negotiation among the 192 member states?

SP: In answering this question, allow me first to highlight the fact that for a number of years, UNCTAD has been sending out warning signals, particularly in the three or four areas I would like to mention here.

First, UNCTAD has been one of just a few organisations to draw the attention of the global community to the fact that global imbalances have reached unsustainable levels and could create a setback to the growth trends enjoyed by many countries, including developing economies.

Second, UNCTAD has consistently raised concerns about the glaring dichotomy between the lack of financial regulation - particularly at the international level - and the tight discipline of the global trading regime. For many years, dating back to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and continuing under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the trade regime has been subject to very stringent disciplines in all areas of commodities trading and markets.

In contrast, and despite various discussions on the need for rules, transparency and prudent regulations in cross-border financial transactions, the international financial and monetary system has remained unregulated and without strict supervisory oversight. UNCTAD has repeatedly warned of the potential pitfalls of this lack of coherence between the international trading and financial systems.

The third warning sign we have been sending is that one of the key causes of the 1997 Asian financial crisis was the over-hasty deregulation process, which led to full financial liberalisation without proper preparation of markets, particularly in terms of the maturity and depth of the key players and institutions needed to ensure the proper functioning of markets.

This time around, we have seen that even in the most advanced countries that have been known for their financial resilience, the negative effects of excessive deregulation cannot be avoided. We cannot say there have been no warnings or consideration of some of the causes of the crisis.

UNCTAD, working closely with other U.N. entities such as the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), has shared some of these experiences with the Commission established by the president of the General Assembly to help him prepare the main report of the conference.

UNCTAD's report on 'The global economic crisis: systemic failures and multilateral remedies' was submitted as input to this process.

IPS: The proposals before the U.N. summit include the creation of a Global Economic Coordination Council and the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions. How feasible are these proposals?

SP: What is clear, and widely recognised, is the need for an independent coordinating forum that will examine systemic issues and ensure coherence at the international level. The case for such a body is clear. The issue now is whether this function could be performed by existing institutional structures or whether there a new institution is needed.

This, I believe, is at the heart of the ongoing negotiations, and the decision depends on the membership. As to the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, the emerging consensus suggests that they are indeed in serious need of reform. As UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has repeatedly said - most notably at the G20 meeting - 'The IMF and World Bank will have to change their role quite dramatically. These institutions were built for a world of local capital flows, not global capital flows. The institutions we have inherited are not equipped for the tasks we have to deal with in the future'.

IPS: Is the world on the right track to resolve the crisis?

SP: Fortunately, this time around the world is better equipped to deal with some of the financial and economic issues, although it appears not to have learned from past experiences how to avoid making the same mistakes and address the issues more systemically in order to prevent a recurrence and foster a global economy that does not suffer from destructive boom-and-bust cycles.

This crisis has a levelling effect; it is of a systemic nature. It does not belong to any single part of the world. Unlike the Asian crisis of 1997, this one is global in nature.

It is therefore heartening to see that the immediate multilateral reaction was to address the problem at the G20 level, which includes both developed and developing countries.

This week's conference should be seen as a further step in addressing what is basically a global crisis in an inclusive manner and taking into account the concerns and visions of 192 countrie

US drone slaughters Pakistanis

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Islamabad, Jun 23 (Prensa Latina) Islamabad, Jun 23 (Prensa Latina) A US unmanned Predator drone shot three missiles that hit a residence in Neej Narai mountains, in Ladha, South Waziristan, at the south Pakistani border with Afghanistan.

Dawn TV Network says the attack killed six civilians. Attacks by remote-controlled planes of Pakistani tribal areas, especially in Waziristan, have become common place for over two years with the toll of over 800 civilians killed to date.

The Pentagon denies such attacks although just its troops and the Central Intelligence Agency operate Predator drones in Afghanistan.

Dawn TV Network says the attack killed six civilians. Attacks by remote-controlled planes of Pakistani tribal areas, especially in Waziristan, have become common place for over two years with the toll of over 800 civilians killed to date.

The Pentagon denies such attacks although just its troops and the Central Intelligence Agency operate Predator drones in Afghanistan.

Somalia declares emergency

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Mogadishu, Jun 22 (Prensa Latina) Somalia President Sharif Sheik Ahmed declared a state of emergency and seeks support from neighboring countries amid flaring violence and advance by opposition troops in an offensive started May 7.

A related source said the decision needs a Parliamentary review.

Somalia requested emergency aid from Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen after admitting to weakness due to advances by Islamic troops led by Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

According to the UN, the wave of violence unleashed since 1991 has claimed over 120,000 lives and has led over 400,000 displaced to seek shelter in refugee camps.

Somalia ranks among the poorest countries in Africa in terms of poverty and hunger, a situation worsened by the global crisis, conflicts, piracy and extreme drought.

WORLDNOTES - Italy, Philippines, Global, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Cuba

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Italy: Gaddafi visit, a first

During his first visit to Italy, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi lauded Italy’s acknowledgment of crimes during colonial times. Italy occupied Libya from 1911 until World War II. Last year Italy, which has extensive Libyan commercial ties, agreed to a $5 billion compensation package.

Gaddafi also spoke with thousands of compensation-seeking Italians expelled from Libya as punishment for colonization, and with Jews expelled in retaliation for Israeli aggression against Palestine in 1967. Accompanying the Libyan leader was the son of liberation hero Omar al-Mukhtar, executed by Italy in 1931.

Libya provides one fourth of Italy’s oil, according to Al Jazeera. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi invited Gaddafi to attend the Group of Eight summit next month in Italy.

Philippines: Land rights leader murdered

Human rights and land reform advocates protested the murder last week in Bukidnon province of Renato Penas, a farmer who led in the struggle against concentrated land ownership. Under pressure from peasant organizations, the Congress had just finalized a five-year extension of the Agrarian Reform Law.

Penas carried out a 28-day hunger strike in 1997, Pakisama.org reported. Twice he led marchers to the presidential palace, on routes of 90 miles last year and 1,060 miles in 2007, in successful campaigns to restore land to peasants.

Penas served as vice president of the National Federation of Peasant Organizations (PAKISAMA), the group sponsoring the marches and campaigns.

Almost 1,000 political killings have occurred since 2001, according to the Karapatan human rights group.

Global: Union activists vulnerable, labor federation says

The annual survey of Trade Union Rights Violations issued June 10 by the International Confederation of Trade Unions demonstrates abuse of workers worldwide. The toll of unionists killed while defending labor rights was 76, down from 91 last year.

Union activism remains dangerous in Colombia where 49 unionists were murdered, an increase of 10. Nine deaths occurred in second-place Guatemala followed by the Philippines and Venezuela with four killings each.

The survey recorded 7,500 workers in 68 countries fired last year for trade union activity, which the ITUC report calls an underestimation of the total. That number included 2,000 in Turkey and 600 in Indonesia.

The survey highlighted exploitation of migrant and contract workers and those laboring in export processing zones.

Lebanon: Vote keeps status quo

Elections June 7 did little to change the country’s balance of power, Inter Press Service said. The U.S. and Saudi-backed alliance headed by Saad Hariri, son of a slain prime minister, retained its parliamentary majority while forces led by Hezbollah, supported by Syria and Iran, fell short of predictions.

President Obama’s speech in Cairo the week before may have contributed to an atmosphere of conciliation, observers said. Yet the defeated coalition actually won the popular vote. Because of that and also rules assuring that a minority of one-third plus one can block parliamentary decision making, Hariri, the likely prime minister, will find difficulties meeting Hezbollah demands for compromise.

Nicaragua: Aid won’t be missed

Jacinto Suárez, Sandinista Party international relations secretary, downplayed the impact of a $64 million cut in U.S. aid announced June 4. He rejected notions of Nicaraguan dependency on funds provided by the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation that over five years had supplied $111 million for development projects. Suárez characterized U.S. assistance as constituting “mechanisms of pressure, coercion, intervention, interference, or whatever one calls it … against Nicaragua’s national sovereignty.”

TeleSur reported that projects supported through U.S. aid will be continued through the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a regional alliance organized by Venezuela and Cuba in 2004. Washington found a pretext for ending U.S. assistance in allegations from Sandinista opponents of voting irregularities in municipal elections last November.

Cuba: Oil exported, with Venezuelan help

Reporting recently on 2008 export revenues, the Foreign Trade Ministry indicated that oil exports had moved into second place, replacing pharmaceuticals. Nickel accounted for 39 percent of the $4 billion export total; oil, 22 percent; pharmaceuticals, 9 percent; sugar and tobacco products, 6 percent each.

Also in 2008, oil imports from Venezuela exceeded the previous year’s total, rising from 87,000 to 115,000 barrels per day, including 45,000 bpd and 98,000 bpd respectively as crude oil.

Observers say additional crude from Venezuela was processed at a refinery in Cienfuegos inaugurated in 2007 and operated as a bi-national joint venture. Reuters explained that sales throughout the Caribbean of oil refined there, on favorable terms, have served to expand oil exports.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit@roadrunner.com)

Letters

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:58:00 +0000

USW knows Koch

Re: “Anti-union, anti-gov’t group takes aim at public health plan,” www.pww.org/article/articleview/15783/:

The Koch family is well known to the USW (United Steelworkers). A few years back they bought Georgia Pacific, a company with whom we had a relationship that was beneficial to our members.

Koch immediately implemented restructuring of work, merit-based pay, and other union-busting methods.

They are, as Susan Webb points out in the article, extreme right-wing ideologues, willing to experiment, at the risk of people, and even the profits of their companies, to enforce their rabid beliefs.

Al Cholger

Taylor MI

Al Cholger is a staff rep for USW District 2.

Sotomayor: role model in many ways

All politics aside, President Barack Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 8 years old, was a historic one.

Judge Sotomayor represents another important role model for people living with diabetes. As a result of clinical advances and research progress, people with Type 1 diabetes can have full and successful lives. Role models show children with diabetes that they can achieve anything in life, even growing up to be Olympic Gold medal winners, Oscar-nominated actresses, Ironman tri-athletes, leading business CEOs and now Supreme Court nominees.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the pancreas, making it unable to produce insulin and turn sugar into energy. Until research discovers a cure, people with Type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day. It isn’t an easy life — but every day, there are new examples that there are few, if any, limitations on what people with Type 1 diabetes can accomplish.

Ms. Sotomayor’s nomination serves as another inspiration for the 3 million people in the U.S. with Type 1 diabetes—particularly children, who represent more than half of all new cases of Type 1 diabetes diagnosed each year.

Jean Norris

Via e-mail

Dr. Jean Norris is board secretary/nominating committee chair of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Illinois.

Northland Poster to close

After 30 years of speaking art to power, the Northland Poster Collective will close its doors for the last time at the end of June.

Part activist organization, part business and part arts group, the Collective was a union shop and remained committed to democratic self-management until the end. Northland workshops with titles like “Give the Boss an Art Attack,” and “Creative Organizing” were fixtures at union conventions. Its slogans have been a frequent sight on picket lines for the past three decades. In fact Northland coined or popularized such slogans as “The Labor Movement: The Folks That Brought You the Weekend,” “Friends Don’t Let Friends Cross Picket Lines,” “Unions: the Anti-Theft Device for Working People,” among many others.

About their decision to close, founding member artist Ricardo Levins Morales noted wryly, “After 30 years of undermining Wall Street, it finally fell on us.” Some of the services provided by Northland, such as union-made buttons, union T-shirt printing and graphic design will continue as spin-off businesses. Levins Morales will open his own studio in Minneapolis.

During the month of June the Collective will sell all remaining inventory at half price through its web store at www.northlandposter.com and at its Minneapolis shop.

We have been honored to have played a part in so many of your struggles. We don’t intend to miss out on the ones yet to come. See you on the picket line!

Northland Poster Collective

Minneapolis MN

Taiwan’s health care model

The following letter was sent to Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski:

I would ask that you introduce the number one proven medical model in the world, the Taiwan medical model, as a bill to Congress. If you have any upgrades that you can put into it, to make it better than the number one standing that it has now in the world, then that would be even better for America. But, you could use it as a base to proceed with for a bill. Every one knows by now that Congress is going to put in national health care. What I am concerned with is that Congress will put in a medical model that is an inferior model that does not provide A-1 health care and reduce America’s health care cost like the Taiwan medical model does. That means we will be paying more and getting less when we could have had the Taiwan medical model and we would be getting more A-1 medical care that would cost 55 percent less than what America pays now for heath care.

What I am saying is, beat them at their own game and you put in the best medical model and let them run for second place or less. I bet that there would be a lot of national press on your bill being the best Congress has put forward compared to what everyone else has put forth. In this manner you have a shot at stopping Congress from putting in a bad bill. Your good bill can and should override their bad bill. Don’t let us be stuck with bad health care when we could have the number one health care medical model in the world.

Thank you for your prompt and courteous attention.

John Suter

Chugiak AK

Editor’s note: According to an NPR report, Taiwan’s system is a “Medicare for all” national health insurance model, also known as “single-payer.”

NPR said, “They wanted a system that gave everybody equal access to health care — free choice of doctors, with no waiting time — and a system that encouraged a lot of competition among medical providers. To finance the scheme they chose a national insurance system: a single, government-run fund that forces everybody to join in and pay. The result is a system that works a lot like Canada’s, or like the U.S. Medicare system, but with more benefits.”

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Specter tells labor: You're gonna like my EFCA vote

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:47:00 +0000

Congressional backers of the Employee Free Choice Act are closer than ever to the 60 Senators they need to break a planned Republican filibuster after Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) told a crowd of trade unionists in Pittsburgh June 6, “I believe you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue.”

Specter made his statement to activists demonstrating outside a meeting of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee that he attended.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, Specter’s potential challenger in his Senate re-election contest next year, also addressed the demonstrators, pledging to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is denying reports that she had said she was opposed to the bill. Feinstein is one of a handful of Democratic senators who were quoted as saying they could not support the bill in its original form.

“She will not vote for the bill,” Jeri Shaffery, vice president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, told the press last week.

Reached by phone, Gil Duran, an aide to Feinstein, said, “This guy does not speak for the senator. This must be his first rodeo because the story has not changed. It has remained the same. She is looking for a compromise. And anyone who says otherwise is engaging in wishful thinking.”

The World has reported that senators are discussing at least five possible compromises on one of the bill’s key provisions, majority sign-up. The discussions were confirmed last week by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the leader of the effort to win Senate passage.

The Press Associates Union News Service told the World today that it has received confirmation from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that a mail-in ballot is one option being considered.

If the ballot provision becomes part of the bill, workers would vote by mail to authorize a union as their representative. The cards would be mailed to the National Labor Relations Board. If the union receives a majority of the votes it would be automatically recognized.

The majority sign-up clause of the original bill says that the union must get signed cards from an absolute majority of workers at a shop. The union could then demand and get automatic recognition or it could choose to go through the NLRB elections process.

Sen. Brown has confirmed that still another compromise is on the table. This one would shorten the length of time between the submission of authorization cards and an election for representation. The argument goes that shorter campaigns would give companies less time to engage in illegal intimidation, harassment, spying, threats and firings that they now use to fight union organizing.

In addition to Specter and Feinstein, the discussions are designed to win over the two Democratic senators from Arkansas.

While some labor leaders say they could accept mail-in ballots for majority sign-up, two union presidents – Communications Workers President Larry Cohen and Steelworkers President Leo Gerard – told the World at the America’s Future Now conference in Washington last week that they are still pushing for the original provision.

Cohen noted, “The problem with courting the wavering senators is that they want to water down the bill before deciding how to vote on the filibuster. We also have to contend with the Chamber of Commerce putting a lot of pressure on them.”

Harkin said that if all the compromises fall through he has the assurances of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, that the bill would come to the floor in its original form for a straight up or down vote that will allow voters to see where everyone really stands.

Cohen received a standing ovation at the America’s Future Now conference when he declared, “We need to say to every Democratic senator: ‘Which side are you on?’”

jwojcik @ pww.org

Lebanon incumbents lead vote

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:43:00 +0000

Beirut, Jun 8 (Prensa Latina) Lebanon's March 14 Bloc (M14), which holds the parliamentary majority, maintains its supremacy over the March 8 coalition led by Hezbollah, according to partial official results disclosed there Monday.

A report on results of the Sunday legislative elections in at least 15 of the 26 electoral districts gives the victory to the candidates of the governing party, an alliance backed by the US and Europe.

Interior Minister Zyad Baroud said in a press conference these are preliminary figures, but support in the south for runners of the resistance-led coalition is noticeable.

Unofficial estimates reveal M14 is expected to have won 70 of the 128 seats, contrary to the technical tie or defeat predicted by analysts and polls.

The son of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, killed by a car bomb in February 2005, has already proclaimed himself as winner, but qualified his early celebration by admitting the triumph implies no substantial changes.

Spencer, Heidi Pratt quit NBC's 'I'm a Celebrity'

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Recently married The Hills stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt have reportedly quit NBC's 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'

Upset at the show's Costa Rican jungle living conditions, the newlyweds quit the NBC reality competition hours after it began filming this weekend, NBC reality chief Paul Telegdy confirmed Monday.

The duo had earlier briefly quit the competition twice during its first 24 hours. However, this time and ostensibly final time, the couple vowed to abscond from Costa Rica after being unable to rough it.

It remains unclear how the show plans to handle the couple's reported departure, however Daniel Baldwin -- the older brother of I'm a Celebrity participant Stephen Baldwin -- is already in Costa Rica and set to join the show as a replacement for Spencer, according to a website. Heidi's sister and fellow The Hills regular Holly Montag is also reportedly currently 'on a plane to Costa Rica' to replace Heidi, said the website.

Letters

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Wise words

The May 30-June 5 issue is better than ever: thanks! The front-page article “Warning: Free stuff now…” is very helpful, the kind of educational service working people need. Adding a splash of color is a good idea, but the white font on a red background isn’t very reader-friendly. Not enough contrast. Maybe black on red would work better?

Keep up the great work!

Dave Zink

Steilacoom WA

Cyclone Aila

Reports continue to come out of Bangladesh, more then a week after cyclone Aila struck, concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis there. The cyclone, which struck on May 25, has killed at least 237 people and left tens of thousands of others homeless.

According to Heather Blackwell, Oxfam’s Bangladesh representative, “It’s an emerging humanitarian crisis. And it’s getting worse every day.” Bangladesh is a nation of just under 154 million people. Most of its geographic area is at, or just above, sea level and with the all too frequent cyclones and the perennial monsoons the people of Bangladesh are in a precarious position.

Some reports indicate that thousands of people still do not have access to food or water.

Farmers and fishermen will face difficulties for some time to come as the coastal regions were heavily damaged and salt water seeped into coastal area farmland.

Another area of concern is disease and waterborne illnesses; already there have been several deaths due to diarrhea.

As Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world it is the moral responsibility of the rich countries to help in these situations. Many are, including the U.S., but it appears to be of an insufficient amount.

Brian McAfee

Muskegon Heights MI

Cap and tax

In the article on Social Security (PWW 5/30-6/05), Joel Wendland says that if the economy continues to falter, Social Security will have to be saved by “raising payroll taxes.” That seems to be a vague solution. All that is needed to “strengthen” the Social Security fund is to raise the cap on contributors. It is ridiculous that the highest paid people pay nothing into Social Security. The “cap” has been raised several times already, and can be raised again.

Betty Smith

New York NY

Joel Wendland replies: Raising the cap on contributions is raising payroll taxes.

On Korea

I was dismayed by the PWW editorial “No way to act,” published May 26 online. A newspaper committed to socialism and anti-imperialism should not trash socialist North Korea. Shouldn’t we Americans show some humility in criticizing other countries’ nuclear policy? Only our country has ever used nuclear weapons in war. That was in 1945, against another Asian people, one not far from Korea. The U.S. has some 10,000 nuclear weapons. The leaders of North Korea have good reason to be anxious.

In effect, if not in intent, the editorial blames the victim. The editorial “condemns” North Korea’s actions, but that strong word is not applied to U.S. policy. Yet, North Korea has been on the receiving end of U.S. aggression, occupation and provocation for more than half a century. This is a reality, not a “claim.”

In fact, the main violators of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are the nuclear-armed imperialist powers (U.S., UK, France). Under the treaty, they agreed to disarm. They didn’t. Under the treaty, non-nuclear states are free to develop nuclear energy, a fact seldom mentioned in the corporate media. The editorial notes that Obama has pledged to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Let’s hope he does so. Obama also said he was getting out of Iraq. The other day Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said that the U.S. is prepared to be in Iraq for 10 years.

J. Jamison

New York NY

“Greetings! You have been selected by the People of the United States.

Please Report on February 12, 1953, at 7 a.m. to Whitehall Street, for your physical exam and possible induction into the armed forces of the United States of America.”

The Korean conflict was raging, and our forces were being killed at a faster rate then occurred in the Vietnam War. Korea was a place that I had no interest in visiting, but I lacked the courage to resist being drafted.

After a physical examination, several dozen draftees were directed to a room for our swearing in. Five minutes later I am a member of the United States Army. “OK, guys take 30 minutes to call your family, then get on the bus,” they said.

Next stop Camp Kilmer, N.J., where they gathered us, then separated us based on our next destination. I was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for my basic training, then transferred to Ammunition Supply School, also in Aberdeen, to become an ammunition inspector.

I still did not feel ready for war, a view held by a majority of those sent to enforce “the police action,” which was Korea.

A plane flight to Seattle, Wash., (my first) and then on a troop ship bound for Yokohama.

Boy! That was a very fast ship, an 11-day voyage.

On the tenth day, the ship’s newspaper announced a ceasefire. What a pleasant day for all the troops on July 27, 1953! A discernible sense of relief quickly swept through the entire ship, smiles were everywhere, as new soldiers, and veterans returning for another hitch, breathed a sigh of relief.

The Korean people endured unbelievable suffering, even before the “police action” began: the puppet-president of South Korea was waging a murderous war against the strong unions, thousands were imprisoned and killed, in an attempt to suppress the organized workers’ movement, led by the left, and much opposed to the fascist-like government imposed with the support of the United States.

These comrades were calling for a united Korea, so the natural resources of the North could combine with the enormous grain-producing South to build a strong democratic united Korean nation.

Americans should denounce any talk of possible aggression from the North as just propaganda meant to frighten our people with charges of weapons of mass destruction. North Korea calls for talks to unify the two Koreas, a task that was delayed by 50 years of Cold War.

No war in Korea. Bring our soldiers home at last! Out of Iraq and Afghanistan!

Jesse Kern

St. Petersburg FL

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Venezuela targets private banks

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:26:00 +0000

Original source:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to sanction private banks which fail to co-operate with his administration's drive to construct a socialist economy.

Mr Chavez said that banks should facilitate exchange by providing credit to people buying houses or producing food, rather than generating massive profits for their owners.

'If private Venezuelan banks don't follow the path, comply with the constitution and the laws, they'll have to be sanctioned,' he said.

'The only way this government and this socialist project will accept private banks is if they fulfil their duty to intermediate and join the government to promote economic development,' Mr Chavez warned.

Caracas has stepped up its role in the banking sector since it reached an agreement with Spain's Santander to purchase its local unit Banco de Venezuela last month.

Once it formally assumes control of the bank on July 3, the government will become the nation's top financial player.

'We will have more economic power,' Mr Chavez observed.

This is not the first time that his administration has threatened to go after banks that fail to abide by state regulations.

In January 2008, he threatened to seize private banks that neglected laws requiring them to set aside nearly a third of all loans for agriculture, mortgages and small businesses at favourable rates.

He has threatened to nationalise commercial banks before but has not followed through on most of those threats.

Mr Chavez has alleged that US intelligence agencies were behind a purported assassination plot that prevented him from visiting El Salvador to attend the inauguration of fellow leftwinger Mauricio Funes on Monday.

'I don't doubt that the intelligence organisations of the United States are behind this,' he charged, accusing them of plotting with Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to murder him.

Art For A Change: Strike/Huelga

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Amanecer (Dawn) is one of two oil paintings by California artist Mark Vallen, which will be on display at the National Chicana/Chicano Biennial of 2009, organized by MACLA, or the Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (Movement of Latin American Art and Culture).

This will be the third biennial mounted by MACLA, which serves the community of San Jose, California, as well as the larger San Francisco Bay area of northern California.

The paintings portray striking Chicano/Latino/immigrant workers and the images, the artist says, were specifically inspired by a real world event, the massive Los Angeles Janitors strike of 2000.

“While based on that historic work stoppage, the paintings clearly allude to labor unrest in other cities, states, and countries – and they are timely expressions given the current international economic meltdown,” Vallens said in his electronic newsletter Art For A Change

The L.A. Janitor’s strike was organized by Justice for Janitors/SEIU Local 1877, and at the time the labor action heralded a new militancy and organizational capacity for the union movement in the United States.

“With these particular paintings I wanted to praise the boldness of Latino workers, but I also intended to instill an awareness of class, which in my opinion is as important as any exploration of cultural identity – especially in these times,” Vallen said.

In a press release for its 2009 National Chicana/o Biennial, MACLA stated, 'Over the last thirty-five years, the field of Chicana/o art and scholarship has developed and expanded exponentially. As an arts movement that developed alongside the Chicana/o civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, Chicana/o art emerged in direct correlation to social change

The MACLA Chicana/o Biennial opens on June 5, 2009, and runs until August 8, 2009. The Opening Reception takes place on Friday, June 5, from 8 to l0 p.m. Visit the MACLA website at: www.maclaarte.org.

MUSIC Sotomayor Mambo

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:51:00 +0000

The National Institute For Latino Policy is asking organizations to play Sotomayor Mambo by Mambo Companions 'in solidarity' with the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Sotomayor

NBC's risky Conan O'Brien-Leno move

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:05:00 +0000

When you come home every night during the week after a long day at work, after you prepare and eat dinner then eventually put the children to bed, what do you watch on television before and after the late night news?

I live in Chicago and by nine at night here during the week I’m definitely sitting in front of the TV either watching sports or some show before I watch the news at ten. It’s that perfect time to wind down after a hard day at work, to just veg out a bit. I don’t have children, but I do enjoy taking the time to relax and watch the tube before I get ready for bed.

According to the New York Times, there is a “revolution” taking shape in prime time that will kick off in September and it has to do with “The Tonight Show’s” Jay Leno.

So here’s the scoop.

This Monday, night Conan O’Brien officially takes over NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” In September, NBC is planning to move Leno to his own talk show called “The Jay Leno Show,” which would air at nine p.m. Central time.

The New York Times calls the move the “signature television event of this season among the most pivotal changes since the network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes, from 15, in 1963.”

Interesting.

All the hype is that never before have late night talk shows aired during prime time spots where television dramas usually dominate. Does Leno have the following to make such a new move work? If this doesn’t work out, then NBC will have to fill five prime-time hours a week.

Some in the industry think it’s a bad move. But others say a low-cost talk format like the Leno show is changing the face of television rather than high budget typical dramas at that time slot.

I wonder if the economic crisis has anything to do with this? You think?

Many workers in the field have a lot at stake, including Hollywood production studios and the writers, directors and actors, says the Times, who keep the entertainment engine humming.

Then there is cable. Cable channels are hoping that their programs and one-hour dramas will have a better chance going up against Leno, even if they’re repeats.

Yet NBC claims that viewers have expressed high interest in watching Leno earlier in the evening. They say also that they can afford lower ratings, if that happens, because it will cost one-fifth as much as an hour-long drama.

Time will tell.

Even more interesting, some point out, is that most people tend to watch TiVo during the time the new Leno show will air. TiVo is a handy program that digitally records shows when viewers are not in a position to watch them when they originally air. I haven’t gotten it yet, but I hear it’s really useful, especially if you're too busy to keep up with your favorite shows or sports. So folks tend to catch up at the end of the day.

Come to think of it, I don’t generally watch many television programs at nine at night other than what’s on cable or sports. I just can’t think of anything that’s really good on the square box during at that time during the workweek. Back in the day, I did watch NBC’s “ER.” But then it got old and it aired its final episode a couple of months ago.

Personally, I was never really into late night talk shows except for the “Arsenio Hall Show” back in the day. I remember we loved that show in my house growing up. Talk about a revolution, a Black late night talk show host? Since the end of that show the demographic of late night hosts hasn’t budged much. And I probably prefer David Letterman, if I had to choose between the new and old gentleman’s club. Conan is kind of funny though, I have to admit.

But honestly the concept of a talking head giving a monologue behind a curtain and interviewing famous people is getting rather old. The late night talk show idea needs to be spiced up a bit and resonate better with younger viewers that are culturally and technologically savvy, at least when it comes to the iPod and Facebook generations.

At least cable has Comedy Central.

If I didn’t have cable, my options on television would certainly be limited and I might just gravitate to the Leno show. During these tough economic times I am certainly not advocating cable, trust me the bills mounting each month are hard as it is. But for sports, well, cable is a must for me.

If you ask me, the nine at night hour on television is one of the most important time slots each and every day. It would be great to sit back and tune into something worthwhile that’s for sure. So who knows, maybe Leno will work out. We’ll just have to wait and see. If not, well I always can fall back on sports.

WORLD NOTES Argentina, Egypt, China, Georgia, Afghanistan, Cuba

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Argentina: Worker-run plants continue As the country slipped into financial crisis in 2001, owners of the Zanon Ceramics factory in Neuquén Province fired all employees, holding back on pay and pensions. Workers there and in 200 other plants occupied workplaces.

Since then, some 470 Zanon workers have maintained production in Argentina’s largest worker-operated factory, despite government eviction attempts. Now the provincial legislature is about to expropriate the factory and provide workers with legal protection, even paying off a portion of pre-2001 debt.

The current employment of some 20,000 workers by factory cooperatives provides welcome relief as Argentina’s economy recedes. Workers are taking collective pay cuts rather than accept layoffs. In 2008, eight additional factories came under worker management, according to upsidedownworld.org.

Egypt: Textile workers end strike Workers at the Nile Cotton Ginning Company struck a month ago after owners cut back on incentive payments. Over 200 of them demonstrated last week outside the National Assembly, accusing the company of having held back on wages for months despite a strike settlement last year awarding workers a 10 percent pay increase. Strike spokespersons cited by Daily News Egypt say the company was trying to force government mediation, seen as favoring employers.

On May 26 workers lifted their strike on promises of full pay and incentives. The debt-ridden Nile Cotton company, privatized in 1997, has factories in multiple locations. It produces soap, oils, fats, and agricultural feed, and reportedly intends to close factories in order to sell valuable land.

China: Mainland, Taiwan leaders confer Hu Jintao, president of China and general secretary of its Communist Party, met last week in Beijing with Taiwanese political leader Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman of the ruling Kuomintang party.

People’s Daily said their talks were an initial effort to implement agreements reached four years ago regarding “peaceful mutual development.” Basic principles accepted then included rejection of Taiwanese independence and recognition of both the mainland and Taiwan as belonging to the Chinese people.

The two leaders agreed that work would begin this year on economic cooperation and cultural and educational exchanges, leaving resolution of complicated political problems until later. The ultimate objective, after conditions of mutual trust have been established, would be to achieve a peace agreement providing military security and an official end to cross-straights hostilities.

Georgia: Protest U.S.-backed president Over 50,000 protesters rallied May 26 in Tbilisi demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. The government canceled a military parade commemorating brief independence from Russia beginning on that date in 1918.

Since April 9, daily protests have accused Saakashvili of authoritarianism and territorial loss during Georgia’s war last year with Russia. Russian trade has contracted 70 percent since then. Saakashvili told workers last week, “Georgia's main enemies are unemployment and poverty.”

The 12 opposition groups are united on their goal of early elections but divided on tactics, according to www.civil.ge.

Vice President Biden assured Saakashvili last month of “unwavering” U.S. support for Georgian sovereignty, a concern likely related to oil and natural gas pipelines crossing the Russian-Georgian border.

Afghanistan: Aid reaches few people Speaking last month at the U.S. Consulate in Calgary, Ontario, Marco Vicenzino, head of the Global Strategy Project, admitted he “was very depressed and discouraged by the disorganization of the international aid efforts.” He estimated 80 percent of the aid dollar returns to contractors in donor countries, and then “You have 20 cents left for Afghanistan” where “layers of corruption” come into play.

Ordinary people receive about 5 cents, he said. The report from the Canadian Press describes jostling among “15,000 foreigners, primarily westerners” in Kabul and battling among non-governmental organizations.

Vicenzino called for an efficient, accountable process, which the government lacks, to track aid money that last year amounted to an estimated $1 billion.

Cuba: Russia returns as ally RIA Novosti reported Russia and Cuba will resume nuclear power cooperation broken off in 1992. Scientists of both nations will work at Cuba’s nuclear research center. The announcement came during ceremonies last week in Moscow bestowing Russia’s highest nuclear research award upon Cuban physicist Fidel Angel Castro Diaz-Balart.

Castro studied in the Soviet Union and once headed Cuba’s nuclear research team during early phases of joint efforts during the 1980s to build a Cuban nuclear plant.

Other signs of tightened relations include: permission granted last March for Russian oil prospecting in the Gulf of Mexico, arrival last month in Havana of the first installment on 200,000 tons of Russian wheat, and high profile Russian condemnation of the U.S. anti-Cuban blockade.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit@roadrunner.com)