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Showing posts with label Imperialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imperialism. Show all posts

24 October 2009

Don't worry about the economy, we don't need it

"The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal."
-- Elia Kazan

Don't worry about the economy, we don't need it. A statement that is at once bold, brave and easily dismissed as foolish, but it's a sentence that encapsulates as succinctly as possible something that desperately needs saying.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws."

-- Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744 -1812)
Godfather of the Rothschild Banking Cartel
in 'The Creature from Jekyll Island', p. 218
Most of us, most of the time, have no need or want whatsoever for the financial economy that exists today; that is - a systemic legacy of historical ownership, control and operation. In fact, if anything, the financial economy is a shackle and a hindrance to more people, more of the time, than it is of any tangible benefit. Which is just as it has been intended by that class of people who champion their private property, profit and capital over the interests of the very people that wittingly or unwittingly facilitate their privilege. But still, don't worry about the economy, we don't need it.

What we do need however is a coherent way of understanding the essential nature of the permanent crisis of Capitalism and its economy, complete with an understanding of how the murderous U-SUK alliance Imperialism we see in the Middle-East and elsewhere is Capitalism in its most barbarous form. We need a correct understanding to ensure that this is the last ever crisis of Capitalism that anyone has to endure and, equally as crucially, to collectively plan, organise and establish new ways for how 6 billion-and-counting human beings go about co-existing with each other on the blue-green planet that hosts us.


An accurate and insightful understanding of what the system of Capitalism under which we live is, how it operates, and what the function of the State is inside the system of Capitalist operation, would include an understanding of how the State has established and maintained for itself a monopoly on the 'legitimate' use of violence against everything, which it deploys via bodies of armed men in defence of the minority interests of private property, capital, capitalists and capitalism. Private property is theft from and an affront to the rest of humanity and the capital is a historical, fictional legacy controlled by a handful people who manage the fiction to best suit the needs of themselves and their class; it is these things that the State, for all its pretence otherwise, exists to protect. Which, in the 21st century information age, is a somewhat backward and regressive basis for anything and this is the crux of the issue: the State's role as actor and enforcer in defence of private property and private capital, while keeping empty a million houses from those with no homes or health, and families unable to feed, clothe and educate their children, because 4 million people live under institutionalised and enforced poverty.
"The state, then, has not existed from all eternity. There have been societies that did without it, that had no idea of the state and state power. At a certain stage of economic development, which was necessarily bound up with the split of society into classes, the state became a necessity owing to this split. We are now rapidly approaching a stage in the development of production at which the existence of these classes not only will have ceased to be a necessity, but will become a positive hindrance to production. They will fall as inevitably as they arose at an earlier stage. Along with them the state will inevitably fall. Society, which will reorganise production on the basis of a free and equal association of the producers, will put the whole machinery of state where it will then belong: into the museum of antiquities, by the side of the spinning wheel and the bronze axe."

-- Friedrich Engels
from "The Origin of Family, Private Property and State" (1884)
Thankfully, outside the bounds of the public school theatrics of parliamentary politics and debate and mostly also outside of the bounds of mainstream media debate (with one or two notable exceptions like the discussion on Newsnight by middle-class pundits of impending "class warfare") people are beginning to explore what lies at the core of the system that enforces certain material conditions of existence. Better yet, they are beginning to explore solutions.

Todd Chretien on Lenin's "State and Revolution"


The State and Revolution, by Vladimir Il'ich Lenin


Since the snappily titled credit-crunch and the despotic actions of States around the world to sustain at any cost to workers the banking infrastructure and the workings of the financial markets of Capitalism the statement, "Don't worry about the economy, we don't need it" rings more true now than at any time before in history. And, while it is possible that some might label the statement "Don't worry about the economy, we don't need it" as the wild imaginings and inventions of an idiot, a 'conspiracy theorist', an Anarchist or a Marxist, or any other ad hominem 'insult' du jour -- as undoubtedly some will loudly decry it, and good luck to them all for their time is nearly up - the closing words of this article are given to a man of mental faculty, standing and repute beyond reproach:
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.


11 June 2009

Crisis and Resistance in the Neoliberal City

A short talk by Professor David Harvey, given in Baltimore on 18th April 2009.

Harvey's opening words include the following quote to indicate the significance of where everything is at, how it relates to where we go next, and the potential implications for the future of any actions that are taken now:
"How we come out of this crisis is almost certainly going to define the nature of the next crisis down the road, unless we decide to say, 'To hell with capitalist crises, to hell with capitalism.' This seems to me to be something we should really be thinking about."

[applause]
From then on in Harvey endeavours to provide information about recent history that seems to have been collectively forgotten, or deliberately ignored, in case anyone might learn anything from the timeless lessons of that which has gone before us.

Crisis and Resistance in the Neoliberal City

Video from the City from Below Conference of Professor Harvey’s remarks at the opening plenary. Baltimore, April 18, 2009. Read the transcript. Watch the rest of the plenary.


20 October 2008

Antagonista TV #911: Capitalism Hits the Fan

It's probably time for a few words on the global financial meltdown cutely named the "credit crunch" but, in the interim, have some words on the same crafted by a bona fide professor.

The sound and video quality on the video below is average -- actually, it's of a better standard than the BBC's recent high-technology, high-quality foreign news reports that look like they were recorded on early incarnations of mobile phone cameras -- but if it's a little rational commentary, a quick oversight of recent history and a few crumbs for compiling into morsels of food for thought you're after, then it's worth persevering with.
Capitalism Hits the Fan A Marxian View
Oct 7, 2008 - 39 minutes

Richard Wolff a professor of economics at UMass Amherst talks on the current "financial" crisis and capitalism in general. A form of socialism is presented as a possible alternative. This talk was presented by the Association for Economic and Social Analysis and the journal Rethinking Marxism.


That videos such as the one above appear from out of nowhere, for all to see, and that such things are free to watch, listen to and learn from is yet another manifestation of the new economy of community outlined here some time ago. This is the same new economy of community for which plans exist, among small groupings of paranoiacs with access to the “paraphernalia of paranoia”, to bring it all to a crashing end.

27 June 2008

Who is Morgan Tsvangarai's Guardian ghost-writer?

Yesterday the Guardian published a letter by Morgan Tsvangarai, "leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe", which urged international leaders to back their rhetoric with military intervention.

Why I am not running
Morgan Tsvangirai

My people are at breaking point. World leaders' bold rhetoric must be backed with military force

...
Our call now for intervention seeks to challenge standard procedure in international diplomacy.
...
We envision a more energetic and, indeed, activist strategy. Our proposal is one that aims to remove the often debilitating barriers of state sovereignty, which rests on a centuries-old foundation of the sanctity of governments, even those which have proven themselves illegitimate and decrepit.
...
We do not want armed conflict, but the people of Zimbabwe need the words of indignation from global leaders to be backed by the moral rectitude of military force. Such a force would be in the role of peacekeepers, not trouble-makers. They would separate the people from their oppressors and cast the protective shield around the democratic process for which Zimbabwe yearns.
...
All well and good and some moral justification for yet another U-SUK led invasion of a far off land for profit. Except, today, Tsvangarai's article no longer exists on the Guardian web site, although it is cached here. And, while the article itself has disappeared, that didn't stop its central meme -- that of Tsvangarai calling for military intervention in Zimbabwe -- making its way into the Washington Post.

More curious still the little twist in the story that Morgan himself has added to what appeared to be his call for a invasion of Zimbabwe:
An article that appeared in my name, published in the Guardian (Why I am not running, June 25), did not reflect my position or opinions regarding solutions to the Zimbabwean crisis. Although the Guardian was given assurances from credible sources that I had approved the article this was not the case.
...
By way of clarification I would like to state the following: I am not advocating military intervention in Zimbabwe by the UN or any other organisation.

A number of questions arise about the original alleged Tsvangarai article in yesterday's Guardian, here's a few of them.
  • From whence did the original and now removed Tsvangarai article come?
  • Who were the 'credible sources' that advised the Guardian Tsvangarai had approved the article?
  • How did the Guardian verify the article's approval?
  • Who at the Guardian approved the publication of the original article?
Thus far, the Guardian has offered no explanation as to how an article by Morgan Tsvangarai managed to pass all its vetting and editorial processes to appear in the paper, only to be denounced the following day by its apparent author as not reflecting his opinion or position regarding what is to be done in Zimbabwe.

If you were still labouring under the misapprehension that the majority of the 'news' is in fact actually 'news', rather than a considerable amount of propaganda presented as 'news', perhaps you might want to reconsider your position.

In the meantime, the Guardian has a little explaining to do.

16 April 2008

New Banksy artwork hits the streets walls

The cheeky but elusive plaything of the middle-class art pretender, the graffiti artist Banksy, unveiled a new piece of artwork that passes comment on Britain's surveillance society. It is the second piece of Banksy artwork to appear in as many months. Last month the piece below appeared on the wall of a London chemist shop:

Banksy celebrates 60 years of Israel

There are many ways in which the image of children raising and pledging allegiance to the plastic bag flag of Israel Tesco could be interpreted, but it takes a touch of real genius to dumb commentary down to the level that the mainstream media did. News stories reporting on the appearance of the graffiti held that, "It was interpreted as support for the growing campaign to ban free plastic bags." Of course it was. Banksy 'backs ban on plastic bags'. What else could it be?

In a book displaying some of his work, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall, Banksy writes how "We can't do anything to change the world until Capitalism crumbles." Whether Capitalism crumbles, or destroys itself -- as it is in the process of doing via a global economic crisis that requires the robbery without limit of the taxpayer, in tandem with 'wealth' creation through the invention of endless yet worthless money -- or whether Capitalism is smashed by the greater mass of humanity that seizes the enduring moment of Capitalism in crisis to overthrow once and for all the system that enslaves it, remains to be seen. Either way, it is clear to all that the personal and private interests of States and Corporations no longer offer any viable or tangible solutions for people or the planet.

Yet the daily diet of mass media mental floss has deleted from history Banksy's wealth of work that contains an inherent anti-capitalist bent and perverts his artistic statements to conjure a world view where there is nothing to worry about other than the annihilation of plastic bags. In the world of media darlings and art snobs Banksy has recanted his anti-Capitalist stance. He is committed to ridding the world of the plastic bags Capitalism produces in order to render the world a better place. Which is, unsurprisingly, utter rubbish, even if Banksy's work, which he donates freely to communities, is changing hands in private monied circles for stupid amounts of cash.

Banksy's latest work rails against what the media term the Big Brother society. Like the 'Nanny State' before it, the familial tag of Big Brother somewhat nullifies the harsh reality that the unbounded implementation of technologies of political control by State and Corporate entities represent. Even if you've read Orwell. The omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent tools of oppression, the prospect of which Hitler would have salivated at, are no longer invasive, intrusive and offensive monstrosities, but instead are divested of their true horrors.

Hello and welcome to Britain. It's only subliminal if you don't notice it.


Below is a similar sized piece that Banksy never quite got around to finishing.


Perhaps he might have finished it if he hadn't given up on anti-Capitalism.

05 February 2008

Antagonista TV Presents Dr Michael Parenti

For anyone not familiar with the outstanding political and ideological analysis of Dr Michael Parenti, here's a few hours worth of vaguely chronological lecture material to bring you up to speed.

Without any shadow of doubt, Parenti -- while not perfect (who is?) -- puts the likes of the much vaunted media darlings of the left, such as Noam 'Who | Cares?' Chomsky, George Monbiot and all the rest of them, to shame.

Watch, listen and learn.

Michael Parenti 1 (1993) The Gangster Nature of the State Part 1


Michael Parenti (1993) The Gangster Nature of the State Part 2



Dr. Michael Parenti: "Terrorism, Globalism and Conspiracy"
OCTOBER 9, 2002, VANCOUVER: Dr. Michael Parenti, one of North America's leading radical writers on U.S. imperialism and interventionism, fascism, democracy and the media, spoke to several hunded people at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver.

Dr. Parenti has taught political science at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. He was written 250 major magazine articles and 15 books and is frequently heard on public and alternative radio.





Michael Parenti: Race, Gender and Class Struggle




Michael Parenti - The Struggle for History
An excellent lecture by the well-known American political scientist, historian, and media critic, Michael Parenti. On history and who tells it (complete with Q&A).





Lies, War, and Empire - Part I
Part I of a talk by Dr. Michael Parenti on "Lies, War, and Empire" given May 12, 2007 at Antioch University in Seattle.




Lies, War, and Empire - Part II
Part II of a talk by Dr. Michael Parenti on "Lies, War, and Empire" given May 12, 2007 at Antioch University in Seattle





Michael Parenti - Contrary Notions
Scholar and Political Ideological Surgeon, Michael Parenti, lays the truth down on the intentionality of today's ruling elite and its harmful consequences. Discussion on Michael's latest book, "Contrary Notions". City Lights bookstore, San Francisco, Jan 22, 2008