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136 Le Pen triumph thanks to ultra-leftists -- rank: 1000

At 22/04/02 16:42 -0700, Brad wrote: >Oh criminy, this kind of hysterical overreaction was a >predictable outcome....listen very carefully: If Brad wants people to listen or read carefully perhaps he ought to read carefully himself. >People get killed. The whole political spectrum lurches to the right. was the most 'hysterical' thing I said. I did not predict an imminent fascist takeover.Presumably Brad is confident and can reassure us that people will not get killed. As for the suggest ...

Document Size:	7606
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Apr 23 00:25:51 PDT 2002

137 Disaster in France-What Must Be Done Now -- rank: 1000

At 22/04/02 17:19 -0400, Nathan wrote: >Why do you argue that the French left is so weak-- the >Greens/Socialist/Communists are running parliament; it was just strategic >idiocy and complacency that let them assume that they could all run their >token Presidential candidates, then support Jospin in the runoff. Quite. In the name of leftism they could not even manage the parliamentarism efficiently by doing voters analysis. One of the most significant things about Pen's vicotry is tha ...

Document Size:	6046
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 22 16:15:45 PDT 2002

138 Le Pen triumph thanks to ultra-leftists -- rank: 1000

At 22/04/02 14:15 -0400, Shane wrote: >Chris Burford, in the name of Stalin (aka Dimitrov) invokes a >completely nonexistent fascist menace and thereby supports--Chirac! I know we all speed read, but this is a bizarre and baseless interpretation of my letter. Nor do I wish to imply that radical forces should have supported Jospin blindly. I note the interesting comments from Jean-Christophe about the strength of left campaigning groups. My criticisms are directed at small sectarian party ...

Document Size:	5266
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 22 14:02:22 PDT 2002

139 SPD loses in Sachsen-Anhalt -- rank: 1000

At 22/04/02 00:10 +0100, you wrote: >The SPD, governing Sachsen-Anhalt (capital Magdeburg) in a minority >administration with support from the PDS, has just lost heavily in the >last regional elections before the presidential contest in September. > >The CDU increased its %age to 37 and the SPD was squeezed into third place >by the PDS (at about 19 and 20% respectively). The FDP also gained >substantially. The Schill (Hamburg) protest party probably did not reach >the 5% ...

Document Size:	5744
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 22 14:07:09 PDT 2002

140 Le Pen triumph thanks to ultra-leftists -- rank: 1000

Time to read Dimitrov! The danger of fascism remains everywhere under conditions of bourgeois democracy. Not just in abstract. People get killed. The whole political spectrum lurches to the right. As the arithmetic shows, groups to the left of Jospin (who was not particularly 'Third Way' compared to Blair and Schroeder) appealed to 14% of the voters. They were dominated by Trotskyists, who are not interested in how to win an electoral majority against the right. Jospin was only a few percent beh ...

Document Size:	9150
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 21 23:28:09 PDT 2002

141 SPD loses in Sachsen-Anhalt -- rank: 1000

The SPD, governing Sachsen-Anhalt (capital Magdeburg) in a minority administration with support from the PDS, has just lost heavily in the last regional elections before the presidential contest in September. The CDU increased its %age to 37 and the SPD was squeezed into third place by the PDS (at about 19 and 20% respectively). The FDP also gained substantially. The Schill (Hamburg) protest party probably did not reach the 5% hurdle. The Greens fell even more to under 2%. The good news was that ...

Document Size:	4969
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 21 16:10:23 PDT 2002

142 Le Pen beats Jospin -- rank: 1000

Appalling. Partly apparently a law-and-order ticket as well as an anti-immigrant ticket. Timely article from the (London) Observer, about how New Labour is trying to do something about the threat from the British National Party. http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,687941,00.html but IMO a marxist analysis is necessary of the role of immigration in a capitalist economy, and why the ultra-right is so reactionary. We also need economic justice in the world so that people are not driven t ...

Document Size:	5869
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 21 15:58:04 PDT 2002

143 the official blather -- rank: 1000

At 21/04/02 12:47 -0400, you wrote: ><http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2002/pr0222.htm> > >Press Release No. 02/22 >April 20, 2002 >International Monetary Fund >700 19th Street, NW >Washington, D.C. 20431 USA > >Communiqué >of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the Board of >Governors of the International Monetary Fund > >1. The International Monetary and Financial Committee held its fifth >meeting in Washington, D.C. on Apr ...

Document Size:	6578
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 21 13:07:39 PDT 2002

144 meanwhile, inside the meeting... -- rank: 1000

At 21/04/02 12:22 -0400, you wrote: >[The anti-WB/IMF protests - which, wonderfully, have been much larger than >expected - have obscured events inside. Here's a report from the WB's news >service.] Thanks >WORLD BANK IN WARNING ON SLOW PROGRESS ON POVERTY REDUCTION. > >The World Bank has warned in a new report that many developing countries >are at risk of not achieving poverty goals established by the international >community, writes the BBC Online. In response, the Ban ...

Document Size:	7427
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 21 13:04:39 PDT 2002

145 Keep East Timor out of IMF/WB debt -- rank: 1000

Forwarded from Stop IMF email list, these are the campaigning efforts of the East Timor Action Network below. But is East Timor right to refuse loans? Cruel though the workings of a currency board might be, would it not allow the local population to retain their locally produced surplus as their economic activity starts to recover? At least they would not have to subsidize finance capitalists for the rest of their lives, however cruel the dispararities of the level means of production in differe ...

Document Size:	13437
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Apr 17 22:30:34 PDT 2002

146 IMF urges calm protests -- rank: 1000

At 18/04/02 00:11 -0500, you quoted: >WASHINGTON, April 17 — The head of the International Monetary Fund urged >protesters to demonstrate peacefully at the spring meetings of the fund >and World Bank here this weekend, cautioning that unrest would hurt >chances for dialogue. > >In making his plea, Horst Köhler, the managing director, acknowledged >popular support for the antiglobalization movement but said the time had >come for constructive discussion, not violence. But ...

Document Size:	6167
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Apr 17 22:27:06 PDT 2002

147 Yahoo's changed privacy policy -- rank: 1000

More e-junk and unwanted calls Saul Hansell The New York Times Thursday, April 11, 2002 Yahoo follows rivals in sharing users' data NEW YORK Pressed for profits, Internet companies are increasingly selling access to their users' postal mail addresses and telephone numbers, in addition to flooding their e-mail boxes with junk mail. Yahoo, the vast Internet portal, just changed its privacy policy to make it clear that it has the right to send mail and make sales calls to tens of millions of its re ...

Document Size:	10984
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 12 14:22:24 PDT 2002

148 Financial pressure on Israel? -- rank: 1000

While Powell continues his circuitous route to Israel, and the Palestinians are being killed and terrorised into submission, I want to ask what financial levers actually exist on Israel. The US government clearly does not want to rein Sharon back too early, but logically if it did, what would it have to do, perhaps together with the IMF, to engineer an immediate, drastic, and uncontrovertible liquidity crisis for Israel? After all Saddam's oil cuts must be intended to raise the extra cost of oil ...

Document Size:	5188
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 8 23:56:07 PDT 2002

149 Communists purged from Russian parliament ?? -- rank: 1000

At 07/04/02 11:14 -0300, you wrote: >-How do you think this will end up?? > > Alexandre Fenelon Presumably the title got shortened and should have said purged from Russian parliament key positons. The article said the issue was: >Zyuganov's attack followed this week's move by the pro-Kremlin centrist >majority to strip Communists of leadership in seven commitees in the lower >house, the State Duma. Zyuganov harshly assailed the move Friday, saying >the Kremli ...

Document Size:	7153
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Apr 7 23:05:10 PDT 2002

150 Radio Henwood -- rank: 1000

At 04/04/02 14:19 -0500, you wrote: >Today on my radio show, WBAI 99.5 FM NYC and <http://www.wbai.org> or ><http://www.2600.com>, 5-6 PM NYC time: > >* Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, on the Florida >2000 election scandal, the World Bank/IMF, the media... > >* Norman Finkelstein on the current crisis > >Doug Glad to get this for the first time. I note Finkelstein's interesting emphasis on the zionist theory of miracles and the spec ...

Document Size:	6495
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Apr 4 15:01:32 PST 2002