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Showing posts from September, 2016
" My work as a historian has convinced me that ways of thinking about race are the most destructive legacy of Britain’s imperial past. In the wake of the Brexit vote we have witnessed a deeply disturbing   increase in the number of hate crimes  committed  against Poles, Muslims and racial minorities. Globalisation, with all the losses it has brought for so many, has clearly acted as a trigger for this upsurge of rage and resentment, the wish to “take back control” and “secure our borders”. The legacy of slavery is the dehumanisation of others and assumptions of white superiority, as well as terrible disparities of wealth and power. These could not be starker than they are today." The racist ideas of slave owners are still with us today
Dr Hickel (LSE) argues that through the MDGs, the UN has misrepresented the true extent for poverty and hunger. “By massaging the numbers, the UN has created a good news narrative that justifies the present economic order and its logic of growth, liberalisation, privatisation and corporate power." "Challenging the UN good story about poverty and hunger" See also "Neoliberalism ans the end of democracy"
" Servicing warfare and neoliberalism is a terrific path to scholarly eminence. Those who condemn warfare and neoliberalism become uncivil goblins, impenitent radicals, sloppy polemicists, immature agitators, scourges on the good name of the profession. Ruling-class sycophants, meanwhile, don’t encounter trouble for their service to power. It’s the same around the world: dissenters are the ones to get fired, arrested, even murdered. It’s almost comically obvious, and yet plenty of academics persist in recycling the mythological virtues of tone and civility as criteria for fitness as an academic, as if those descriptors are detached from norms of power — as if using a civil tone means you can’t articulate ugly ideas." Six ways to unsettle colleagues and irritate administrators Six ways of resistance, but the eradication of corportae universities should be the solution.
A very good analysis that avoids economic determinism. "But the truth is sometimes uncomfortable. Cultural attitudes aren’t always "caused" by anything else in some immediate or obvious sense. To explain how people "got" to believe in racist and xenophobic status hierarchies is to explain hundreds of years of Western history and the complicated story of how race and national identity were made in the West. As a result of this history, many people value their culture and identity as much as they value economic security. When their vision of the way the world should work is threatened, they see it as a  personal threat . They’re racist because race and hierarchy and group identity have come to play integral roles in how humans understand the world. To deny that is to deny that both identity and the past matter, to assume everything is reducible to some kind of material or economic ultimate cause. History has shown, conclusively, that this is a mistake.&q
I am almost certain that the 21st century battle for the Middle Earth will be fought between the Burkinists and their allies and the nudists and their allies. Context: there will soon be a park for nudists in Paris.
" Beyond the racist and exclusionary borders of Tower Europe, there are other insiduous ways of silencing and marginalising the voices of people from the Global South, namely the Eurocentric framing of discussions, hearing from one or two voices from the Global South at the end of the day (after dinner and wine), not giving enough time to discuss important questions of colonialism and race, etc. I am becoming very pessimistic with everything coming from Europe (or almost). Fanon has been right after all: let's leave this Europe and its ways!" — Hamza Hamouchene
I disagree with the writer here in using "socialist states" and "stalinist states" to mean the same thing. The analysis, otherwise, is very interesting. The Anti-colonial Origins of Humanitarian Intervention: NGOs, Human Rights and When Humanitarianism Became Imperialism
A talk in London Anwar Shaikh talk on Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises and in New York Marx and Capital: The Concept, the Book, the History
"This inclusion of Islam in the Nietzschean catalogue of more 'honest', pre-, non- or even anti-European societies offers two further points of interest: first, that Nietzsche's remarks do not greatly differ from the kinds of observations a whole century of European Orientalists were making about Arabs and Muslims in general — that Islam is incapable of democracy, that is fanatical and warlike, that it is Frauenfeindlich and socially unjust, etc. Nietzsche's only difference, ironically, is that he affirms these prejudices instead of lamenting them. Nietzsche, who had never visited a Muslim country and whose closest brush with the 'Orient' was the 'southern' sensuousness of Naples, had to rely on an extremely unreliable canon of Orientalists for his information about Islam and Arab culture. The fact that Nietzsche's opposition to 'progress' led him to react positively to the kind of racial and generic defamations attributed to the Middl
" A major problem is that global warming, as with the associated environmental problems, can’t be solved within the capitalism that has caused, and is accelerating, the problem. All incentives under capitalism are for more growth and thus more greenhouse-gas emissions, and there is no provision to provide new jobs for the many people who would be displaced should the heavily polluting industries in which they work were to be shut down in the interest of the environment. The private capital that profits from environmental devastation is allowed to externalize the costs onto society, an inequality built into the system. The concept of  “green capitalism” is a dangerous chimera ." Systemic Disorder
"A fractious Europe, a failing currency, a challenged economy, populist parties on the rise, a divided left, migration from the east, an atmosphere of fear combined with social and sexual liberalism. The parallels between Britain today and Germany in the 1920s may well make this a compelling moment to revisit those postwar German thinkers who gathered in what was known as the Frankfurt school for social research – something akin to a Marxist think tank, [...] Little wonder, given the history of the 20th century, that the Frankfurt school gave us intellectual pessimism and negative dialectics.  Jeffries’s biography  is proof that such a legacy can be invigorating."   –  Lisa Appignanesi,  Guardian

Britain

From the BBC If he [Jeremy Corbyn] beats Owen Smith, he said he would be "the same Jeremy Corbyn that I've been through the last year and the last 30 years in Parliament", and that he would invite his critics "to come on board to work together". "I have taken it on board, understood what they're saying and asking them to behave in a decent and responsible way and come together so that we do have an ability to take the fight to the Tories. He expressed a hope that some of the front bench MPs who resigned would return, saying "we need to bring in many other talents" to the shadow cabinet. My comment No, and no. Corbyn is ready for a compromise with the Blairites and their allies although he is in a strong position. Corbyn has the support of the majority of the Labour Party members. If he really has a long term view, he shouldn't compromise with the criminals, i.e. those who presided over the domestic and foreign policies, includi
A book The Poisoned Well - empire and its legacy in the Middle East I think it is worth reading this book.  My questions to the author after reading the review:  “He also briskly dismisses the fashionable ISIS/Daesh-driven exaggeration of the significance of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement and other post-WW1 ‘lines in the sand’ to focus more sharply on the dismal shortcomings of the post-colonial era. Just one niggle: the ruling family of Saudi Arabia is (still) the Al (upper case, no hyphen) Saud, like the Al Thani in Qatar, and not to be confused with the more common Arabic definite article.” Does that mean the authors dismiss two fundamental aspects of the historical process: the artificial nation states in the region and the economic factors, i.e. the uneven development of capitalism and the core’s interests for stability in the region, a stability which guarantees the status quo and thus economic and geo-political interests? Does the author also dimiss the West’s role in c
Israel provides the US “a relatively cheap way to test the most advanced arms in field conditions...” "... The concept is even written into US law: the Arms Export Control Act mandates that any arms sales to Israel’s neighbors must “not adversely affect Israel’s qualitative military edge.” Why the US Backs Israel
The stinking big fish ... Compare the title with the content : it says the West, but there is no single paragraph about the West's role in this so-called report. Russia is mentioned once, though.
" It is also a huge business... " " DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger have designed Ramadan collections, and  Dolce & Gabbana sells abayas , long outer garments, priced at more  than $2,000 apiece.
Two liberals lost in translation When one acknowledges the existence of state terrorism (though I curiously want to know which states English has in mind), but does exclude it from his analysis when dealing with non-state terrorism. One does not certainly see the interaction between the two types of terrorism (nor can one be able to broaden the concept and practices of "terrorism". I know I am probably passing a premature judgement on English's take, but that's the impression I get from the reviewer and the quotes. Nagel, on the other side, believes that Bin Laden and his colleagues "had stimulated the invasion of Iraq" (!!) That says it all. "By Any Means or None"
" On Wednesday a foreign affairs committee chaired by the Conservative MP Crispin Blunt delivered its excoriating verdict on   David Cameron’s Libyan adventure . Few people will rush to Cameron’s defence. Yet the former prime minister might be forgiven for feeling a pang of irritation at the committee’s uncompromising verdict. In March 2011, when Cameron went to the Commons to propose bombing Libya, no fewer than 557 MPs voted with him. Just 13 voted against. Those 13, just in case anyone is interested? They did not include Crispin Blunt. They did not include Theresa May. They did not include Owen Smith, Corbyn’s rival for the Labour leadership or Angela Eagle, who kicked off the leadership challenge (she abstained). But they did include Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. That’s what many of us call leadership. A parliament full of criminals and they call it democracy
" The best of all possible worlds " (G. Leibniz) All what matters is the income of the lower middle class. "Neo-liberalism" has survived thus no wonder the liberals, or most of them, find a reason for defending globalisation and capitalism in general. Putting the blame on local institutions is pervasive. Before that the defenders of the status quo had used "the cultural backwardness" of Africa and the Middle East, for example, as the cause of underdevelopment. For them local institutions are isolated from the global institutions and the main powers control of finance, trade, terms and conditions, military power, etc as well as their interests in tacitly supporting local regimes. For "the masters of the universe" the law of combined and uneven development is non-existent. The authors of this article ignore that the country which elevated more poor people out of poverty than any other (see UN reports on China) has done and that because the s
نبيل الملحم: ما أن يلتقي جون كيري وسيرغي لافروف، حتى يتهامسان، لا ندري إذا ماكان همسهما، لعبة من تبادل الأطباق: - خذ طبقاً من الهوت دوغ، وهات طبقاً من الـ بلوف. ثم تكون المائدة. ولا ندري أية همسات مابين الأتراك والإيرانيين: - خذ الشاورما، وهات الـ "ديزي". والاثنان يُقسمان أنه اللحم الحلال.. ثم تكون المائدة. هي السياسة هكذا، نعم، وبهذا التبسيط، وكل من يعتقد بغير ذلك فهو أبله، أو مثقف (ما يعني أبلهاً أنيقاً). - أين الغرابة في كل ذلك حين نكون نحن هي الأطباق؟ الأطباق البشرية؟ ستقولون لي:"هي استحقاقات الجيوسياسة"، نعم، ومن قال بأنها غير أطباق من نوع ما؟ أطباق خطوط الغاز، مكامن النفط، صناديق المال، تبادل الزوجات، المعادن الثمينة، ولكل مائدة فقهاؤها، ولمزيد من العلم، فقد لعبت الكوكاكولا ماعجزت عنه ساحات القتال، وها نحن نضرم النيران والبخور من أجلها.. أعني من أجل الأطباق، ونتهامس كما يتهامسون: - طبقاً ديموقراطياً من الأمريكان، ثم نستشهد بما قدموه لنا في كابول، بغداد، القدس، وها نحن نأكله طازجاً في دمشق، نأكله لنأكل بعضنا بعضاً في مأدبة هي عسر هضم ا
I love the English and their way of life The other day someone, an English, was telling how marvellous the American soldiers were in treating dogs in Afghanistan. One Syrian Photographer's Last Letter to the World
Keynes’ 1930s optimism gained credence with the boom during a major world war and the subsequent post-war Golden Age that restored the profitability of capital for a generation.  Let’s hope it does not take another world war to confirm the  optimism of the modern Keynesians like DeLong . The end of globalisation and the future of capitalism
Capitalism " batters down all  Chinese walls ... In one word, it creates a world after its own image." " All that is  solid  melts into  air , all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life..." A prayer for Mecca — the city that many pilgrims don't see Also Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas'

Colonialism and Imperialism

We should flatly refuse the situation to which the Western countries wish to condemn us. Colonialism and imperialism have not paid their score when they withdraw their flags and their police forces from our territories. For centuries the foreign capitalists have behaved in the under-developed world like nothing more than criminals.”  —Frantz Fanon “Imperialism after all is an act of geographical violence through which virtually every space in the world is explored, charted, and finally brought under control. For the native, the history of colonial servitude is inaugurated by loss of the locality to the outsider; its geographical identity must thereafter be searched for and somehow restored. Because of the presence of the colonizing outsider, the land is recoverable at first only through imagination.”  —Edward Said War on Want
Note that the Washington Post here is not questioning corporate education and how the system is organised to reproduce the elite in the US and in other countries. It is only questioning/exposing the excesses, which shouldn't be exploited by Trump in a context of electoral campaigns. Good! The more they stink, the better.
180 million workers have gone on strike in India الهند: أكبر إضراب عمالي في التاريخ إضراب مماثل نظم السنة الماضية
Here is of the things the Liberals have done in the last 20 years. IMF chief,  Christine Lagarde, also blogged  that  “Weak global growth that interacts with rising inequality is feeding a political climate in which reforms stall and countries resort to inward-looking policies. In a broad cross-section of advanced economies, incomes for the top 10 percent increased by about 40 percent in the past 20 years, while growing only very modestly at the bottom. Inequality has also increased in many emerging economies, although the impact on the poor has sometimes been offset by strong general income growth” . And what is their solution now? More globalisation. Some of them even argue for the colonization of Mars . That is what we can call a global economy of priorities that serves humanity!
Mother Theresa has been made a saint by the Pope. "MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of  poverty . She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go?" — Christopher Hitchens A new exposé of Mother Theresa shows that she —and the Vatican—were even worse than we thought
" This is some deeply weird liberal saviour racism. All the agency in this representation is on the side of the intervening white person , while the Muslim woman is quiet, meek and passively grateful. The intervention doesn't challenge the racist politics of the abuser. Instead you're supposed to "ignore the attacker" and *talk about the weather*. The intervening white person doesn't allow that the Muslim woman might herself have something to say about the racism being directed  at her. The whole strategy of "building the safe space" depends on her being quiet. And through these means, the racist attacker is supposed to give up and go away, fuming in "irrelevance". What if he doesn't? What if he keeps it up? What if he escalates? What if you end up having to shout at the top of your lungs about the weather because now he's screaming about sending them back?  How useless is your solidarity then? Where is your safe space? And even