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5296 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 9:51 PM, northsunm at yahoo.com wrote: > More to the point than his Holocaust denial is that if Ahmadinejad > tomorrow miraculously aquiesced to Western objectives in the Lebanon > (ie stopped supporting Hezbollah), and opened Iran to Western > capital, then Iran would overnight cease to be a "paraiah," and > Ahmadinejad would overnight become either a reformer or a strongman, > and no more of an "embarrassment" than is a King Abdullah, a ...

Document Size:	5762
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 19:03:03 PDT 2009

5297 [lbo-talk] Liza on WMT -- rank: 1000

[Bethany Moreton's book is indeed terrific. My interview with her is at: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#090606>.] <http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/06/22/church-wal-mart > The Church Of Wal-Mart New books depict the retailer as a triumph of Christian conservative politics. By Liza Featherstone Posted Monday, June 22, 2009 - 2:32pm The world is going soft on Wal-Mart (WMT). From 2005 to 2007, two union-funded organizations employing more than 50 ac ...

Document Size:	7260
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 15:24:01 PDT 2009

5298 [lbo-talk] freedom to swim -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 5:05 PM, Chris Doss wrote: > Are gender-segregated swimming pools in Iran a matter of popular > discontent, or not? Jesus Christ, are you trying to be difficult to make a point, or do you just think it's fun? There are a lot of Iranians - we can't tell how many, but it's a substantial share, maybe even a majority - who are fucking tired of the moral regulations that govern their lives. They feel isolated and oppressed. Women have to wear ridiculous outfits or they'r ...

Document Size:	5241
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 14:15:45 PDT 2009

5299 [lbo-talk] freedom to swim -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 4:33 PM, Chris Doss wrote: > Whatever these mysterious swimming proscriptions may be, whether > they are or are not a metter of elite concern in Iran is a matter > tangential at best to the state of affairs in Germany during Kaiser > Wilhelm. Eh? > Because Social-Democracy is always found > to be in advance of all the others in furnishing the most > revolutionary appraisal of every given event and in > championing every protest against tyranny...

Document Size:	5020
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 13:44:03 PDT 2009

5300 [lbo-talk] Holocaust and denial -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 4:04 PM, Michael Smith wrote: > I'm sure that's so. But do English speakers commonly *say* "AIDS > denial" or "AIDS denier?" It was just a linguistic question. Yes. "Denialism" is frequently used in the AIDS context. Most recently, some people opposed to Gary Null's possible return to the WBAI airwaves have pointed to his AIDS denialism, which is one of his many offenses. Doug

Document Size:	4928
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 13:12:48 PDT 2009

5301 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 4:00 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > I do not claim any knowledge of the facts on the ground in Iran, but > to > declare demos _as such_ inspiring is mindless. Were the dmos by > housewives just before the overthrow of Allende inspiring? > > I'm NOT saying anything at all about Iran; I'm comment _only_ of the > fatuity of seeing demos in the abstract as inspiring. Perhaps they > are; > perhaps they are not. It requires investigation. Who the fuck said tha ...

Document Size:	5569
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 13:11:17 PDT 2009

5302 [lbo-talk] freedom to swim -- rank: 1000

Re: all those who think that the freedom to swim is somehow an elitist concern when it comes to Iran, Lou Proyect cites this excellent passage from Lenin's "What Is To Be Done?": <http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/a-velvet-revolution-in-iran/ > Why is there not a single political event in Germany that does not add to the authority and prestige of the Social-Democracy? Because Social- Democracy is always found to be in advance of all the others in furnishing the mos ...

Document Size:	5897
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 11:46:49 PDT 2009

5303 [lbo-talk] poverty in Iran -- rank: 1000

[Richard "Lenin's Tomb" Seymour linked to this. Apparently Ahmadinejad has done a worse job on poverty and distribution than his neoliberal predecessor's gov. Religious repression and poverty - yay!] <http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/0805_iran_salehi_isfahani.aspx> This brings us to the finding of the CBI study that captures the political imagination, namely that poverty had increased, from 18 to 19 percent, between the first and second year of President Ahmadinejad s ...

Document Size:	8741
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 09:21:50 PDT 2009

5304 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 11:36 AM, Dennis Perrin wrote: > I'm certainly not saying that. Kick Ahmedinejad all you like. He > does nothing for me, nor do I see him as some kind of anti-imperial > figure. But mainstream media and blogospheric commentary is > overheated with the standard Good vs. Evil scenario, so I suppose > that's what I'm really reacting to. Well yeah, but isn't there anything inspiring, or at least encouraging, about the demos?

Document Size:	4998
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 08:40:41 PDT 2009

5305 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 10:50 AM, ravi wrote: > Re: Holocaust denial: there is an interview with Khatami that > someone posted (here? on PEN-L?) or I came across a while ago, where > he answers this "Do you deny the Holocaust?" accusation by answering > that "Holocaust denial is a Western idea". I think roughly speaking, > that's probably the case for the majority of the rest of the world. > They are probably sad that a large number of Roma, Jews, Russians > ...

Document Size:	5993
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 08:16:35 PDT 2009

5306 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 10:01 AM, ken hanly wrote: > So what significance is it that many Iranians are embarassed by > Ahmadinejad that many on LBO think he is a clown and even call him > fancy phallic names. Many Canadians were embarassed by Mackenzie > King who consulted mediums and talked to his dead mom but they voted > him in as prime minister I really don't get this line of argument at all - and it's not just you, Dennis Perrin & Michael Smith are making similar points. I ...

Document Size:	5797
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 08:12:28 PDT 2009

5307 [lbo-talk] Fwd: at the death of Giovanni Arrighi -- rank: 1000

For Giovanni Arrighi (1937-2009) by Salimah Valiani A good friend in New York City from Latin American circles, then a good friend from African solidarity circles based in Toronto, asked me to write something about Giovanni Arrighi, who died of cancer on June 18, 2009. Because of these two requests, and though I have not been in contact with him for years, I thought I should write something, as one of the few who knew Arrighi, among the many who ve been touched by his thought. That two of ...

Document Size:	12039
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 08:06:44 PDT 2009

5308 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 22, 2009, at 12:40 AM, Chris Doss wrote: > Isn't holocaust denial taught in Saudi schools, along with the > Protocols? Maybe so, but so what? Iran is to some degree a democracy and Saudia Arabia is a repressive hellhole. What does this have to do with the fact that many many Iranians are embarrassed by their clown of a president? Doug

Document Size:	4945
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 22 04:38:18 PDT 2009

5309 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 21, 2009, at 10:18 PM, Lajany Otum wrote: > Dennis Perrin writes: > > >> Well, how many "educated" Americans know or care that their >> government essentially denies (or "overlooks") the well-established >> Armenian genocide -- not based on some crackpot belief, but for >> geopolitical purposes? Which is more "embarrassing": having a >> theocratic clown deny genocide, or having "educated" technocrats >> d ...

Document Size:	6045
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jun 21 20:22:02 PDT 2009

5310 [lbo-talk] Hamid Dabashi on Iran -- rank: 1000

On Jun 21, 2009, at 9:18 PM, Dennis Perrin wrote: > Doug: > >> Chris, you're making no sense. Most educated people of any >> nationality regard Holocaust denial as ludicrous and embarrassing. >> An exception like David Irving or even Pat Buchanan proves nothing. > > Are you confusing "educated" with "intelligent," "critical" or even > "honest"? Because there are plenty of "educated" people in > imperialist cou ...

Document Size:	5661
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jun 21 18:29:54 PDT 2009