Search LBO-Talk Archives

34801 Rebuttal to Nathan -- rank: 1000

Seth Ackerman wrote: >(WSJ 12/31/99: "We were all hamstrung," a NATO official >says. As the war dragged on, he says, NATO saw a fatigued press corps >drifting toward the contrarian story: civilians killed by NATO's >bombs. NATO stepped up its claims about Serb "killing fields.") > >And it worked. The front pages of every newspaper carried the 500,000 >figure, along with grim pictures of huddled refugees. At 4:38 PM -0500 3/28/99, Nathan Newman wrote: & ...

Document Size:	12960
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 15:47:21 PST 2000

34802 Marx -- rank: 1000

matt hogan wrote: >But wasn't Marx an anti-semite, a plagarist, as well as someone who >never took a bath? Yeah, and he had carbuncles too. Doug

Document Size:	4431
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 11:45:22 PST 2000

34803 Marx -- rank: 1000

I heard a rumor that a member of this list was recently complaining elsewhere that it isn't "Marxist." Guilty as charged. There's just too much ideological baggage associatd with that label for my taste. I admire Marx tremendously, and everything I think about politics is shaped by his influence, but I just don't want to get into all the tedious denominational squabbles that are part of the inheritance, and I want a wider conversation than that self-identification would permit. Doug

Document Size:	4798
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 11:17:06 PST 2000

34804 There Is No Such Thing as "Free" Speech (was RE: [Fwd: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY]) -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >Then, anti-imperialist opponents of NATO have to >waste time defending our political rectitude measured by conventional >wisdom: "And I say this as no fan of Serbia or Milosevic." By our >*defensiveness*, we *reaffirm* the correctness of *ideology* that says the >fundamental *cause* of the Yugoslav woes is Serbia or Milosevic, thus >ending up displacing & marginalizing the analysis of history, political >economy, geopolitical reason of ...

Document Size:	6460
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 11:09:26 PST 2000

34805 [Fwd: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY] -- rank: 1000

Charles Brown wrote: >All Power to the People, Or, more precisely, the subset of the people that agrees with you. Doug

Document Size:	4586
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 10:44:42 PST 2000

34806 Pro-ITN Libel Suit Post (re: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >LM's apology for Serb murder Whoa, Nathan. Isn't this a little overheated? I haven't seen LM taking an overtly pro-Serb line; it struck me more as a critique of NATO demonization of the Serbs. If what was called a death camp was not in fact a death camp, that doesn't qualify as apology for murder, does it? I think the postwar body counts have shown pretty conclusively that the genocide rhetoric - which, as I recall, you endorsed - was completely unearned. And I say this ...

Document Size:	5223
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 08:51:49 PST 2000

34807 Germans, Gephardt defend WB -- rank: 1000

[from the World Bank's daily clipping service] GERMANY CRITICIZES MELTZER COMMISSION. Handelsblatt (p. 11) reports that the German finance ministry strongly opposes the Meltzer report's recommendations, particularly suspending long and medium term lending by the IMF. Moreover, the global membership of the IMF means it cannot just pull out of many poor countries. However, German Central Bank Vice-President Jurgen Stark says the IMF should stay out of long term lending and the World Bank should no ...

Document Size:	6162
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 08:44:33 PST 2000

34808 "beyond left & right" -- rank: 1000

[Thanks to Michael Pugliese for sending this. I think I posted something about this earlier, but it bears repeating. Alex C is keeping some very odd company - goldbugs, therapy cultists, crypto-nazis, neo-confederates....] Antiwar.com Conference Beyond Left and Right: The New Face of the Antiwar Movement Pat Buchanan ~ Alexander Cockburn Rep. Ron Paul ~ Lenora Fulani Harry Browne ~ Srdja Trifkovic Alan Bock ~ Tom Fleming George Szamuely ~ Justin Raimondo Daniel New ~ Jared Israel Ronald Maxwell ...

Document Size:	9189
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 08:13:30 PST 2000

34809 There Is No Such Thing as "Free" Speech -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >No *individual* can *alone* decide what racism is, however powerful he may >be. How much concrete freedom -- including freedom of speech & freedom >from racism -- we may enjoy gets *politically* decided by the balance of >class and other powers. Having laws that protect "free speech" in theory >doesn't help you at all if the political conditions are such that no one >comes forward to defend you in case you get into trouble. The First &g ...

Document Size:	5854
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 16 07:39:57 PST 2000

34810 Pro-ITN Libel Suit Post (re: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >LM was not doing some kind of FAIR report on poor reporting tactics; LM >claimed that the report lied about this being a detention camp and, as >Carroll's post emphasizes, LM to this day claims the report was lying when >they claimed there was a detention camp. LM insists it was merely a >"collection centre for refugees." Clarification: what you're calling "Carrol's post" is a forward from one Jared Israel, who people tell me is a raving S ...

Document Size:	5290
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 15:22:17 PST 2000

34811 [Fwd: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY] -- rank: 1000

Charles Brown wrote: >CB: So the answer to your original question - who would decide what >is racism ? - is "it should be decided democratically ". > >You want to pretend that somehow the decision on what is "racism" is >uniquely influenced by the state powers you don't like, but >decisions on other policies are not . I'm drawing a distinction between what the state does and what it does or does not allow people to say. There's a big difference in my book, e ...

Document Size:	5061
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 15:11:26 PST 2000

34812 Wolfie's response -- rank: 1000

[WB president James Wolfensohn's response to the nepotism complaint.] Dear Colleagues, I have read the statement issued by the Staff Association today regarding the appointment of Nick Stern as Chief Economist. Obviously I am very distressed by the statement and by some of the conclusions which appear to have been drawn by some members of the staff. Certainly had I known of the depth of feeling of the staff on this issue I would have been more sensitive to the need for advance information on my ...

Document Size:	7716
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 11:28:50 PST 2000

34813 nepotism at WB? -- rank: 1000

[Circulating within the World Bank. The Washington Post article mentioned in the memo is appended.] To All Staff: By now, you will have read of the appointment of Mr. Nicholas Stern as the Bank's new Chief Economist. As you may also know, Mr. Stern is the brother of Human Resources Vice President Richard Stern. This appointment has been made in direct violation of Staff Rule 4.01. Staff Rule 4.01, para 4.03 (a) states: The following close relatives, including relatives by adoption, are not e ...

Document Size:	10341
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 11:28:00 PST 2000

34814 [Fwd: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY] -- rank: 1000

Charles Brown wrote: >In general, if you don't think there is anybody you would trust >making decisions on legal definitions, what are you demonstrating >for in Seattle and elsewhere ? Who will decide the statutes, >definitions and cases that arise out of the progressive laws you are >trying to win ? Policy should be decided democratically. The Seattle demos were an attempt to wrest trade and other economic policies from the hands of the ruling class. I wouldn't want to arrest Ja ...

Document Size:	5090
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 11:24:07 PST 2000

34815 Social Protectionism -- rank: 1000

Dace wrote: >Opposing the social clause says nothing about further liberalization. >Promoting the social clause, on the other hand, is predicated on further >liberalization. Depends on the social clause. If it's something purely symbolic, like NAFTA, you're right. If it's something with teeth, which I'll concede is extreeeeeemely unlikely, then it's the opposite of liberalization. I don't see the point of discussing this at such an abstract level. Doug

Document Size:	4867
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 15 10:58:00 PST 2000