jump to navigation

What you want to say – 4th January, Week 1, 2017 January 4, 2017

Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.
trackback

As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

Comments»

1. CL - January 4, 2017

“Over chants of “Bernie! Bernie!,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined Sen. Bernie Sanders in Long Island City on Tuesday to roll out a proposal to make New York’s public universities tuition-free for students whose families earn less than $125,000 per year.”
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2017/01/cuomo-sanders-propose-free-public-college-in-new-york-108407

Like

Reply
sonofstan - January 4, 2017

It will be interesting to compare how the Bernie legacy plays out in the face of defeat, compared with Momentum etc in the UK.

Like

Reply
CL - January 4, 2017

As we know from Wikileaks the DNC sandbagged Sanders, yet he won 23 primary contests. Cuomo is positioning himself for a presidential run in 2020, and will not make the mistake of ignoring the working class, although a few years back he was dissing public sector unions.
‘The state has formed a 200-person task force to enforce new minimum-wage requirements, Gov. Cuomo announced Monday.’
http://nypost.com/2017/01/02/cuomo-forms-task-force-to-enforce-new-minimum-wage/

Like

Reply
EWI - January 4, 2017

Cuomo the Younger is, like Hillary Benn, a decidely unworthy successor to his father’s name and legacy. Cuomo is very much worse than Clinton in some respects.

Like

Reply
2. Roger Cole - January 4, 2017

The first joint Stop the War / Peace & Neutrality Alliance public meeting will be held in Belfast on Saturday January 21st. (see http://www.pana.ie ) for details. If anybody has any contacts in Belfast, please inform them.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 4, 2017

If you have a poster Roger email it to us and well post it here

Like

Reply
3. EWI - January 4, 2017

I had no idea until this week (looking at Craig Murray’s website for better information about the supposed Russian hacking) that Murray was in his younger years a witness to Thatcher’s full support for Apartheid:

[…] I was only a Second Secretary but the South Africa (Political) desk was just me, and I knew exactly what was happening. My own view was that Thatcher was a strong believer in apartheid, but reluctantly accepted that in the face of international opposition, especially from the United States, it would have to be dismantled. Her hatred of Mandela and of the ANC was absolute. It is an undeniable statement that Thatcher hated the ANC and was highly sympathetic towards the apartheid regime […]

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/opposing-apartheid-clever/

Like

Reply
4. Alibaba - January 4, 2017

Somebody here was seeking a view on the film ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. It’s been well critically reviewed. But €11 for two hours of 3D wham, bang, bosh was not to my liking. And as put to me by a friend the film had “little to redeem it”. Or maybe my dislike is a function of my aging. Check it out anyway.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 4, 2017

I hate 3d – too dark! Its ruined films for me. Thanks for the review. Good to build up a sense of what people think.

Like

Reply
LeftAtTheCross - January 5, 2017

Saw it in 2D in Blanch’ midweek for €6. I’m not a fan of Star Wars so predictably enough I thought it was pretty boring. It’s a Disney film which perhaps says it all. I’ve seen plenty of commentary about how deep and meaningful it all is but nah, it’s a shoot ’em up for kids.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

Well yes, Disney but more the existential bleakness of certain scenes in Bambi than other more typical fare from that quarter, I’d have thought 😉

Like

Reply
LeftAtTheCross - January 5, 2017

Bambi is class. Far better than Star Wars in fairness.

Like

5. lcox - January 4, 2017

The latest publication from the discussions between social movements internationally coming out of the World Social Forum process is now available in a free advance publication for discussion in movements.

Jai Sen (ed.), “The Movements of Movements: What Makes Us Move?” (PM / OpenWord) at http://www.cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=Publications/Table+of+Contents.

Includes pieces by David McNally, Tariq Ali, Peter Waterman, Daniel Bensaid and yours truly among others. I got to write the afterword so can highly recommend the contents! This is volume I – volume II due on the same site in the near future.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 4, 2017

Can I post your comment up as a separate post? I think people would find it useful if it were highlighted, and by the way, fair dues, looks fantastic.

Liked by 1 person

Reply
6. lcox - January 5, 2017

Thanks a lot! Of course, I’d be honoured.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

Thanks lcox!

Like

Reply
7. Starkadder - January 5, 2017
8. CL - January 5, 2017

“As the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton showed in their study published in December 2015, life expectancy among middle-age white Americans is declining as rates of suicides, drug use, and alcoholism increase.
A year later, the US National Center for Health Statistics reported that life expectancy for the country as a whole has declined for the first time in more than 20 year…
US president Barack Obama saved not only the banks, but also the bankers, shareholders, and bondholders. His economic-policy team of Wall Street insiders broke the rules of capitalism to save the elite..
Obama brought “change you can believe in” on certain issues, such as climate policy; but with respect to the economy, he bolstered the status quo – the 30-year experiment with neoliberalism, which promised that the benefits of globalisation and liberalisation would “trickle down” to everyone….
If Ryan is not as concerned about the deficit as he says he is, he will rubberstamp Trump’s agenda, and the US economy will receive the Keynesian fiscal stimulus that it has long needed…
Hillary Clinton undeniably lost because she failed to offer voters a convincing vision that was markedly different from the neoliberal agenda that Bill Clinton embraced in the 1990s.”-Joseph Stiglitz
http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/donald-trump-shifts-us-from-traditional-power-base-437511.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=nextandprev

Trump’s demagoguery has deflected the immiseration of the working class into scapegoating those with least power,-immigrants and minority groups.

Like

Reply
9. Dr. X - January 5, 2017

I see the Irish Times has swapped its shirt of blue for a garment of a browner colour:

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/the-alt-right-movement-everything-you-need-to-know-1.2924658

I am very, very fucking angry right now.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

+1. Disgusting piece. ‘Irreverent and youthful’ – yeah right.

Like

Reply
Dr. X - January 5, 2017

Somebody had better lose their job over this.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

The tone of it FFS! What were they thinking ?

Like

Reply
Tomboktu - January 5, 2017

Like

CL - January 5, 2017
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

Very poor response from McManus

Like

CL - January 5, 2017

Pell appears regularly in Taki’s Magazine.

“The website garnered some controversy in 2013 after it published articles in support of the Greek ultranationalist political party Golden Dawn.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taki's_Magazine

“During the late ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s, radical Frankfurt School-style leftists quietly infiltrated assistant professorships.”-Nicholas Pell.
http://takimag.com/contributor/nicholasjamespell/312#axzz4Utp3aXMk

Like

CL - January 5, 2017

‘those who dismiss the Dark Enlightenment do so at their own peril. It’s home to some of the most intellectually rigorous and energetically principled folks to come down the right-wing pike in recent memory.’-Nicholas Pell.
http://takimag.com/article/overreacting_to_neoreaction_nicholas_james_pell/print#axzz4Utp3aXMk

Like

Starkadder - January 6, 2017

There is a reply to the piece in Today’s IT by Angela Nagle, who writes for “The Baffler”. Alas, this does a Lionel Shriver and states that ” A new generation of liberal left-identitarians display chilling levels of pack pleasure when conducting career-ending, life-destroying hate campaigns against people for minor infringements”. As if these people also had politicians in the White House!

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/angela-nagle-what-the-alt-right-is-really-all-about-1.2926929

Like

CL - January 7, 2017

“The so-called “alt-right” movement is not, as the piece maintains, characterised by “nationalism, scepticism toward globalism and an irreverent sense of humour”. It is more accurately categorised as racist, ableist, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic – as is made abundantly clear by the so-called “glossary” which accompanies the article…
a grossly misleading, racist, misogynistic, and transphobic piece which The Irish Times should be ashamed of publishing….
As policymakers, activists, practitioners, academics and individuals, some of whom work on a daily basis with communities impacted by this type of odious, abusive, and discriminatory ideology, we cannot overestimate our extreme disquiet that your paper has published this “article”.”

Letter in I.T (7/1/17) from Gavan Titley, Stephen Kinsella, Liam Hogan and others.

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/the-alt-right-movement-a-glossary-1.2928046

Like

10. FergusD - January 5, 2017

The end of cash?

Interesting article here on the pressure by “them” to get rid of the folding stuff:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/don-quijones-power-profit-fuel-war-cash-europe.html

Trouble is I find the card/electronic transfer so convenient I ma nearly cashless myself. So “they” know exactly how I used my “dosh”. Scary.

Like

Reply
EWI - January 5, 2017

Given the consequence-free breeziness with which the banks treat electronic services such as paying people’s wages into their accounts on time, I’d oppose this to the utmost.

And that’s even before you get into the fees which will inevitably be piled up on even the simplest transactions, not to mention the value of minute peering into your life for both government and big business.

Like

Reply
LeftAtTheCross - January 5, 2017

Check out your quarterly bank statement of account fees for a nice reminder of how much the convenience of cashless transactions is costing you. In our house the receipt of this statement leads to an inevitable rant about how much the banks are screwing us (even leaving aside the bank bailout) and how we should switch over to the credit union (which doesn’t qualify as a “bank” in terms of electronic payment of salary, unfortunately). As a result we’re quite cash-based, with a wedge being withdrawn and then used for post weekly purchases rather than using the visa debit card. In the grand scheme of things I personally think the bank bailout is a bigger issue though.

Like

Reply
11. sonofstan - January 5, 2017

I suspect cash will go the way of vinyl, but without the consequent revival.

Like

Reply
12. Starkadder - January 5, 2017

Speaking of the alt-sh*te crowd, there’s an interview with
Milo Yiannopoulos which I don’t believe has received enough attention. In it, he dismisses criticism of the use of anti-semitic slurs
by the alt-right’s members, and says it’s simply “mischievous, dissident, trolly ” fun.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/ben-shapiros-messy-breakup-with-breitbart.html

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 5, 2017

These people are desperate. Really truly desperate.

Like

Reply
Starkadder - January 6, 2017

Yes, Milo is indeed desperate. He sez in the Dave Rubin interview last March and quoted in the article:

“it’s trolling” It’s a direct response to the language policing, . This is a direct response to people being told they can’t say things. What you’ve got to remember about the Millennial generation, and I get letters from 13 year olds, These people don’t know what the Holocaust was. They don’t know! They don’t have any relatives who were in it, they don’t even in many cases remember 9/11! They haven’t lived through these big traumatic events in world history, they’re just trolling, and they recognize that saying stuff about Jews means you can get on the nerves of journalists.”

& this outright lie:

“Racism in this country? I Mean, there is no KKK, a few thousand members left? And we’re constantly told white supremacy is a problem. There are no white supremacists. There are no white nationalists. They’re not in the media. They’re NOWHERE. They’ve no influence, no purchase whatsoever.”

Oh, they’ve plenty of influence and purchase and getting more thanks to Milo’s “Daddy” Trump.

Like

Reply
oconnorlysaght - January 8, 2017

I would suggest that much of the altright backing is related to its simplicity. People dissatisfied with their condition in the system look for change. They see the apparent of the messers and their institutions who control things and sense that overthrowing them will be a difficult task. The right offers softer solutions; attack the weaker, the Jews, the blacks, the immigrants who are taking jobs, lowering wages, undercutting one’s fellow national traders (That these two last contradict each other can be ignored if put with enough indignation). The immigration thing is effective because it can be dressed in a progressive garb; for years it was part of the programme of the Australian Labour Party. Probably most people do not fall for this, though more retreat into resigned acquiescence in the system than turn towards socialism. However, too many do swallow the muck and the alt right/ dark enlightenment are what might be called ironically the think tank of those who seek to get more accepting it. to counter it, we have no alternative but to speak the truth, beginning what too many progressives have been ignoring since the Soviet implosion. the economic question of class relationships

Like

Reply
13. sonofstan - January 6, 2017
Ed - January 6, 2017

I saw that story with the headline ‘Another Pro-European Comes Out Against Free Movement’. You know, it’s almost as if these guys weren’t ‘pro-European’ at all, but pro-something else. At least Farage doesn’t pretend to be some kind of enlightened cosmopolitan.

Like

Reply
14. botheredbarney - January 6, 2017

Perhaps you are an ageing Soixanthuitard (1968 student radical) or you are much younger than that. This site reproduces some of the political and cultural posters that appeared on the streets of Paris during the student-worker confrontation with complacent French establishment from May onwards in 1968. The slogans and the artwork were innovative and made a visual impact at the time.

http://www.openculture.com/2017/01/a-gallery-of-visually-arresting-posters-from-the-may-1968-paris-uprising.html

Like

Reply
6to5against - January 6, 2017

thats really interesting, BB. One thing that jumped out at me straight away from looking at the posters was that they had a real sense of humour to them.

Like

Reply
Bartholomew - January 6, 2017

This is the one I remember best, also humourous: ‘Light wages, heavy tanks’

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9018059p

Like

Reply
botheredbarney - January 6, 2017

They were humorous and they made people think. Unfortunately, some of their slogans and visual techniques were subsequently co-opted by the advertising industry.

Like

Reply
CL - January 6, 2017

‘In 1968, Pigasus was nominated for the U.S. Presidency by the Youth International Party (Yippies)…
candidate Pigasus was purchased from a farmer by folk-singer and fellow Yippie Phil Ochs.
MR. KUNSTLER: Would you state what, if anything, happened to the pig?
THE WITNESS: The pig was arrested with seven people…
MR. KUNSTLER: Were you informed by an officer that the pig had squealed on you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_(politics)

Like

Reply
15. Starkadder - January 6, 2017

Following the disgraceful “Chicago Facebook” assault on a white disabled man by four African-Americans, right-wing commentators are trying to pin blame for this vile attack on the Black Lives Matter movement:


A former Chicago police officer, Dimitri Roberts, slammed the notion that the Black Lives Matter movement is to blame.
“This is hate. And hate doesn’t have a color,” Roberts said. “So for folks to talk about this is somehow connected to Black Lives Matter is absolutely the wrong way to look at this. … And we cannot respond to hate with hate. It’s just going to perpetuate the cycle.”
President Barack Obama said the Facebook live torture video is “despicable,” suggesting to CNN affiliate WBBM it was a hate crime.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/05/us/chicago-facebook-live-beating/

Like

Reply
16. CL - January 8, 2017

WTF!
“Conservative author and television personality Monica Crowley, whom Donald Trump has tapped for a top national security communications role, plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book, a CNN KFile review has found…
Trump’s transition team is standing by Crowley.”
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/news/kfile-trump-monica-crowley-plagiarized-multiple-sources-2012-book/

Like

Reply
CL - January 16, 2017

‘President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for director of communications at the National Security Council, GOP foreign policy adviser Monica Crowley, “will not be taking a position in the incoming administration,” she said in a statement on Monday…
“The NSC will miss the opportunity to have Monica Crowley as part of our team,” Flynn said in a statement.
http://www.businessinsider.com/monica-crowley-says-she-will-not-take-position-in-trump-administration-2017-1

Like

Reply
17. irishelectionliterature - January 9, 2017

Martin McGuinness resigning as Deputy First Minister…. presumably an election in the offing with the DUP under a cloud from The Renewable Heating Initiative scandal.

Like

Reply
sonofstan - January 9, 2017

Presumably this means retirement, given his health issues?

Like

Reply
irishelectionliterature - January 9, 2017

I don’t know, the resignation is in protest at Arlene Fosters refusal to temporarily stand aside for a RHI investigation.

Like

Reply
sonofstan - January 9, 2017

Yeah I know, I wasn’t clear – I meant that, whatever happens electorally, he might not return.

Like

Reply
botheredbarney - January 9, 2017

I admire Martin McGuinness, a self-educated and self-made Bogsider who found himself thrust into the maelstrom of turmoil from 1969 onwards. He is soft spoken, thoughtful and doesn’t dodge questions. What you see is what you get. I wish him an improvement in health.

Like

18. sonofstan - January 9, 2017

Unforgiveable naivety in a 50 mumble year old, but when T-May was elected enthroned, i thought we might have dodged a bullet or three – she had to be better than Boris or Gove or, god help us, Leadsom. Now i find myself wondering who’s thicker, herself or Enda?
At least she won’t last as long. (Can’t help wondering if NI crisis might have as yet unforeseen consequences on ‘the mainland’)

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 9, 2017

I thought – despite my entirely atavistic hatred of the Tories – that there was a chance she was going to be a bit better than the others, even hoped she might be more like Major who for all his faults at least was a paid up member of the human race. But nope.

Like

Reply
ivorthorne - January 10, 2017

It all just feels rather strange. It’s one thing for a government to make poor decisions based for reasons related to internal party politics but the Brits are making ridiculously risky decisions based on internal politics and we live in a world where people seem to understand this and ignore it at the same time.

The promised Brexit is a fantasy but anybody who suggests that the emperor is running around bollock naked is marginalised. All but those who are blinded by bigotry seem to realise that Brexit is bad for Britain but they’re going ahead with it anyway.

You just have to shake your head.

Like

Reply
19. roddy - January 9, 2017

Watched a new programme last night- a drama about a Dublin law firm.Part of it involved a lawyer advising his client to plead guilty on welfare fraud.When the youth suggested bankers did’nt plead guilty to much greater fraud ,his lawyer countered with the following gem “ok then just wear a celtic jersey and shout water charges”!.What D4 script writer came up with that gem?!

Like

Reply
RosencrantzisDead - January 9, 2017

Your a tougher fellow than I if you can stomach an ‘RTE legal drama’, roddy.

Although, such snobbery among the legal profession would hardly require imagination and might even be a nod towards cinéma vérité.

Like

Reply
Dr. X - January 10, 2017

In fairness, that does sound like something a lawyer would actually say.

Like

Reply
Ed - January 10, 2017

Yeah it rings very true alright. If there’s one group of people a D4 script writer might know well, it might be law graduates.

Like

Reply
20. dublinstreams - January 9, 2017

[the first ever required] 2015 Political Parties’ Statements of Account http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/About-Us/News/Press-Releases/2017-Press-Releases/Press-Release-Report-on-Political-Parties-Statements-of-Accounts-2015.html 300 pages to read off you go

Many small irish political parties non-compliant with SIPO requirements, ie they refused to provide independently audited accounts.The Standards in Public Office Commission say audit requirements for small political parties excessive/unduly burdensome.

how much would an audit cost?

Like

Reply
RosencrantzisDead - January 9, 2017

Depends on the size and complexity, but I have heard €2000 thrown around.

Liked by 1 person

Reply
21. Michael Carley - January 10, 2017
ivorthorne - January 10, 2017

“Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle. But nor can we afford to lose full access to the European single market on which so many British businesses and jobs depend. Changes to the way migration rules operate from the EU will be part of the negotiations,” he will say.

“Labour supports fair rules and reasonably managed migration as part of the post-Brexit relationship with the EU.”

Hmmm. Seems like there are a couple of ways to interpret this. Although we haven’t actually heard what he has to say yet I suppose.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 10, 2017

Not looking good.

Like

Reply
sonofstan - January 10, 2017

Indeed not. Again, as Dublinstreams wisely advised, best wait and see what he actually says.

Like

Reply
Gerryboy - January 10, 2017

Didn’t lots of Labour voters vote Leave, and isn’t the Labour leadership worried about Ukip moving into safe Labour constituencies?

Like

22. Jim Monaghan - January 10, 2017

No comment
http://politicaleconomy.ie/?p=1148
“The left and immigration
Nicola Lawlor – http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie/sv/05-immigration.html

The left must embrace the debate about immigration from a working-class viewpoint and not run away from it, or shout over it, or ignorantly paint all workers who have fears and concerns as racists.

The recent British referendum has revealed a number of serious weaknesses of the left, and consequently a lot of working-class anger and frustration is expressed though right-wing groups.”

Liked by 1 person

Reply
irishelectionliterature - January 10, 2017

Thanks for that Jim!!! Worthy of a thread of it’s own.

Like

Reply
Jim Monaghan - January 10, 2017

Yes, indeed. I am putting it in another where, perhaps, it should belong. Sorry for double posting.Oh it would be worthwhile seeing other parties positions. The affiliate across the water of the SP have a migrant control position.

Like

Reply
CMK - January 10, 2017

Any links where the English SP articulated a ‘migrant control position’?

Like

Reply
Michael Carley - January 10, 2017

Of course, we have to stand in defence of the most oppressed sections of the working class, including migrant workers and other immigrants.

We staunchly oppose racism. We defend the right to asylum, and argue for the end of repressive measures like detention centres.

At the same time, given the outlook of the majority of the working class, we cannot put forward a bald slogan of ‘open borders’ or ‘no immigration controls’, which would be a barrier to convincing workers of a socialist programme, both on immigration and other issues.

Such a demand would alienate the vast majority of the working class, including many more long-standing immigrants, who would see it as a threat to jobs, wages and living conditions.

Nor can we make the mistake of dismissing workers who express concerns about immigration as ‘racists’.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/campaign/Anti-racism/Immigration/16413

Like

CMK - January 10, 2017

That’s stretching credulity a fair bit to read that as a ‘migrant control position’.

This piece is fairly clear on the issue.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/20425

Like

23. yourcousin - January 11, 2017

Between double shifts and layoffs, I’m about ready to start a one man worker’s revolution. Sorry, just talking talking to myself.

Like

Reply
24. sonofstan - January 16, 2017
25. CL - January 17, 2017

…President Obama on Tuesday largely commuted the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning,…Ms. Manning is set to be freed on May 17 of this year, rather than in 2045.

Like

Reply
26. botheredbarney - January 18, 2017

Great news. Good on Obama to do this as a parting gesture.

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 18, 2017

Wow, I’m kind of impressed.

Like

Reply
27. CL - January 18, 2017

Obama also commuted the prison sentence of Puerto Rican freedom fighter Oscar Lopez Rivera….

“Lopez, born in Puerto Rico in 1943, is an independence leader in his native country. Upon returning to Chicago after serving in the Vietnam War, he joined the struggle for the rights of the Puerto Rican people and participated in acts of civil disobedience and other actions….
In 1976 he joined the clandestine fight for the independence of Puerto Rico as a member of the Armed Forces of National Liberation. In 1981 he was captured by the FBI accused of “conspiracy” and for his militancy in the FALN….
At the time of his capture, he proclaimed himself a prisoner of war, protected in the first protocol of the Geneva Convention of 1949. The protocol protects Lopez for being a person arrested in conflict against colonial occupation.

The U.S. did not recognize the demand of Lopez and sentenced him to 55 years in prison, after an alleged attempt to escape, the sentence increased to 70 years in prison, 12 of which have been spent in isolated confinement.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Oscar-Lopez-Rivera-To-Be-Freed-After-36-Years-in-US-Prison-20170117-0029.html

Like

Reply
WorldbyStorm - January 18, 2017

Interesting. At least Trump can’t rescind these.

Like

Reply
CL - January 18, 2017

But alas Leonard Peltier is still locked up.

‘The government has gotten almost 41 years, and 41 pounds of flesh; Peltier is old and sick, and in my opinion, any more time served would be vindictive.’
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/ct-leonard-peltier-should-be-released-in-the-interest-of-justice-20170117-story.html

Like

Reply

Leave a comment