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1501 The World We're In -- rank: 1000

The WEEK ending 26 May 2002 Book of the week: THE WORLD WE'RE IN Former Observer editor, one time Newsnight economics correspondent, Will Hutton's 1995 book, The State We're In captured the mood of a country deeply disappointed with the free market capitalism of the long-standing Conservative administration. Now head of the Industrial Society, Hutton has again pitched for the cause of the moment with The World We're In, a trenchant critique of the globalisation of American capitalism, that offer ...

Document Size:	8641
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun May 26 13:35:25 PDT 2002

1502 Osama's revenge, free trade myth -- rank: 1000

The WEEK ending 19 May 2002 OSAMA'S REVENGE Sixteen British Marines based at Bagram, Afghanistan, were laid low, not by the forces of Al Qaeda, but a stomach bug. The attack was the only action the marines saw, despite extensive manoeuvres in search of 'the enemy'. The search for 'the enemy' is more of a metaphysical pursuit that it ought to be. Writing in the London Review of Books, Slovene philosopher Slavoj Zizek argues that the War on Terror both identifies and denies the existence of the en ...

Document Size:	7920
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon May 20 01:46:46 PDT 2002

1503 Unstable positivists -- rank: 1000

Michael McKintyre wrote: "Jim, Jim, Jim.... The problem I called attention to is "selection bias" " Don't be a fool. You did not draw attention to any problem but one that is in your own head. Now stop wasting time, and shut up. -- James Heartfield The 'Death of the Subject' Explained is available at GBP11.00, plus GBP1.00 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'

Document Size:	4820
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon May 13 11:27:21 PDT 2002

1504 Marx's critique of the theory of value -- rank: 1000

Michael Perelman and others have answered the core of Brad's misreading of Marx. But since this hoary old myth is thrown in: 'Why the systematic denigration of the social value of all "unproductive labor"?' It should be said that it is not Marx that systematically denigrates the social value of all unproductive labour, but capitalism. In pointing it out that Capitalism fails to put a value on a great deal of work that is socially useful but not profitable, he was condemning, not commen ...

Document Size:	5586
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon May 13 02:15:40 PDT 2002

1505 Unstable positivists -- rank: 1000

Subject: Unstable Greens From: Michael McIntyre <mmcintyr at depaul.edu> Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 13:10:59 -0500 Michael McIntyre <mmcintyr at depaul.edu> caricatures my point about Greens. But he is really getting carried away with himself: "Step One: Find someone with an ideology who has committed some heinous act." Like George W Bush for example "Step Two: Find some homology between that outlier's ideology and the act." Like the 'war against terrorism' and ...

Document Size:	6418
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun May 12 15:21:46 PDT 2002

1506 Unstable Greens -- rank: 1000

Michael McIntyre <mmcintyr at depaul.edu> writes in reference to my posting on unstable greens: "This compared to the noteworthy mental stability of structuralist Marxists!" Can I refer Michael to the chapter on Althusser in my little book The Death of the Subject Explained? In it I relate his murder of his wife to his theory of the death of the subject. -- James Heartfield The 'Death of the Subject' Explained is available at GBP11.00, plus GBP1.00 p&p from Publications, aud ...

Document Size:	5037
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun May 12 10:45:56 PDT 2002

1507 Unstable Greens, Red Army Rapists? -- rank: 1000

The WEEK ending 12 May 2002 UNSTABLE GREENS Volkert van der Graf, plunged the Netherlands into a political crisis when he killed the Dutch right-wing populist Pim Fortuyn; just before the French elections Robert Durn provoked a nation-wide law-and-order debate by shooting dead eight town councillors. In the US 21-year old Lucas John Helder was arrested following a spree of postbox bombings that cost one man his arm. All were seemingly disturbed individuals, but they were also united by the ideol ...

Document Size:	9747
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun May 12 07:16:00 PDT 2002

1508 Food Is *Clearly* Not a Human Right -- rank: 1000

= From: dlawbailey <dlawbailey at netzero.net> writes 'Charles, Don't be dumb. You don't have a right to water, either.' And I have to agree with him. Or put another way, both are using a different concept of rights. I think 'dlawbailey' (what is your name?) means rights classically understood, which are broadly the civil rights sometimes called negative rights, such as freedom of conscience, speech, association, from imprisonment and so on. These arise spontaneously out of a society o ...

Document Size:	6992
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun Mar 31 10:07:46 PST 2002

1509 Risk-free capitalism, Italy -- rank: 1000

The WEEK ending 31 March 2002 STEPHEN BYERS' RISK-FREE CAPITALISM British transport secretary Stephen Byers wrote 'letters of favour' for potential investors in the new railway company promising to underwrite any losses. In effect, Byers is offering a one-way bet, where money begets more money, without any risk of loss. How this remarkable state of affairs came to be is a melancholy tale of the state of contemporary capitalism. Last year Byers surprised everyone by refusing to underwrite Railtra ...

Document Size:	12086
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun Mar 31 02:35:58 PST 2002

1510 Shackleton -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick <carlremick at hotmail.com> writes "Heartfield. Prior to being a mere catalyst for the faux-progressive ravings of Living Marxism alumni, Antarctica was the setting for genuine heroics by early explorers like Scott, Shackleton and Mawson." I think that the TV show must be the one already shown here, if so I have to say it is mawkish imperial nostalgia. Scott and Shackleton (I must plead ignorance on Mawson) were staples of the Empire propaganda that we were all raise ...

Document Size:	5452
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Mar 26 12:42:42 PST 2002

1511 Yes, Britain does have surplus land -- rank: 1000

From: dlawbailey <dlawbailey at netzero.net> writes 'C. Heartfield, You are living in a fool's paradise, comrade.' etc etc On the contrary, you just do not know what you are talking about. This morning farmers leaders met with the prime minister to hear his proposals to retire vast tracts of land from agricultural use to be converted into nature reserves, flooding them for bird sanctuaries and so on. At the same time, house building is at a historic low. Of the four million homes (conse ...

Document Size:	5938
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Mar 26 12:31:37 PST 2002

1512 Now I am sick of cars -- rank: 1000

Jeffrey Fisher <jfisher at igc.org> writes "i may have missed something. if we all want a nil emission car, then presumably we agree that auto emissions are sufficiently bad that they ought to be done away with altogether, and then i wonder, why are we fighting about this?" No, I am looking forward to the nil emission car because it will put the 'global warming' case against cars finally to bed. (I'm assuming incidentally that it will not put the case against cars to bed, because ...

Document Size:	5853
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Mar 25 16:46:01 PST 2002

1513 suburbs/cities -- rank: 1000

Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> writes: "Uh, no, I don't mean this at all. I like people. I live in a city jam-packed with them. You're the one who loves the suburbs, which are all about avoiding one's neighbors." Well, I love cities too, Doug, I just don't hate the suburbs. I live in Finsbury Park, North London. You say suburbs are 'all about avoiding one's neighbours' but most people I know who move out to Basildon or Dagenham do so because they cannot afford to live in ce ...

Document Size:	5228
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Mar 25 16:27:42 PST 2002

1514 Is your war really necessary? -- rank: 1000

Jeffrey Fisher <jfisher at igc.org> writes "perhaps that [poor air quality in third world countries] has more to do with their poorly designed factories built for export-oriented economies" I don't doubt that factories play their part, but evidence on South Asia is that wood smoke burnt for fuel is the principle cause of respiratory illness. And "again i ask, would you have opposed the removal of lead from gasoline". I beg your pardon, I did not hear you ask it the firs ...

Document Size:	6252
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Mar 25 14:33:04 PST 2002

1515 Yes, Britain does have surplus land -- rank: 1000

dlawbailey <dlawbailey at netzero.net> writes 'C. Heartfield, Britain has many wonderful things and one of them is not a land surplus. Britons are cheek-to-jowl by any world standard' Well, there are about 246 of us for every square kilometre, which is probably quite dense by US standards, but still not literally cheek by jowl. But you will appreciate that land surpluses are relative to land use, and that for the last twenty years more and more land has become available due to increased ag ...

Document Size:	6170
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Mar 25 07:18:38 PST 2002