The Digger

On Scotty Mack's advisement, from In Defense of Marxism an examination of the recent massive strike in India. It is difficult to see this country actively disintegrating, though empires always must, but it is comforting to see the fight against economic oppression surging ahead elsewhere. I'm afraid the United States has made its Procrustean Bed and must now sleep in it but India and other countries appear to be rising to prominence. For those who believed that the 21st century would be America's they had best look again. Perhaps they should pause to remember that the Thousand Year Reich lasted but 12.  India: 200 million strike against “anti-labour” policies

Why should I sacrifice when big companies are to blame for climate change?  Eve Andrews Why should I feel guilty for flying abroad for vacation or having a child when 100 companies are responsible for 71 percent of CO2 emissions? And how do I hold those companies responsible for climate change when every facet of our political system benefits them? A.  Have you ever heard the credo “every day, once a day, give yourself a present?” It comes from  Agent Dale Cooper in  Twin Peaks , and personally, I live by it. In response to your question, I propose a slight modification: Every day, once a day, give your  future  self a present … by doing something to counteract climate change. Certainly less catchy, but a more noble motto nonetheless. But you correctly point out that living that motto often seems like an exercise in futility (unless you happen to be the CEO of a major gas conglomerate)! The  100 companies that are responsible for 71 percent o...

Tulsi Gabbard is hailed as a progressive champion. But her views on Islam and support for far-right leaders suggest otherwise.  https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democratic-party

For all those emotional people into analysis and wondering what goes on in the minds of them Davos rich fucks, here's something academic-y by  Mario D’Andreta ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Understanding for intervening Constructivist and psychoanalytic oriented social research provides evidence that human behaviour is driven by the shared meanings of the subjective social experience (Blumer 1969, Mead 1934, Berger and Luckmann 1966, Moscovici 1961, Matte Blanco 1975, Carli 1993). This perspective can be used to understand the cultural drivers underlying the elite’s political and economic action. The understanding of these meanings allows to identify possible strategies of intervention to induce change and enhance democracy, social and economic justice, quality of life and civil coexistence. This knowledge can be gained by the analysis of socially produced discourses on relevant topics such as globalization,intended as the current  common horizon of se...

On 8-9 January, around 200 million workers went on a two-day strike across India, bringing the country to a grinding halt. The strike was called by 10 central trade unions of India against the anti-labour policies of the Modi government. BMS, affiliated with RSS-BJP, was the only central trade union that was against the strike and tried to sabotage it. All others supported the strike and made huge efforts to make it successful. Public sector workers from the railways, banks and power stations participated with full force in this strike, along with workers from the private sector, including the mines, industrial sites, transport and even small traders. According to the reports of trade unions, a large number of informal workers also participated in the strike, including workers from the construction sector, street vendors, domestic and home-based workers, auto-rickshaw and agricultural workers. “Biggest strike in history” This is being claimed as the largest ever strike in world ...

The things Tucker Carlson says, and on Fox, no less! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last Wednesday, the conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson started a fire on the right after airing a prolonged  monologue  on his show that was, in essence, an indictment of American capitalism. America’s “ruling class,” Carlson says, are the “mercenaries” behind the failures of the middle class — including sinking marriage rates — and “the ugliest parts of our financial system.” He went on: “Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.” He concluded with a demand for “a fair country. A decent country. A cohesive country. A country whose leaders don’t accelerate the forces of change purely for their own profit and amusement.” The monologue was stunning in itself, an incredible moment in which a Fox News host stated that for generations, “Republicans have considered it their duty to make...

I'm repeating Collectivist's earlier post on social ecology, a field which I believe to be critical if we are to survive the 21st century, as a stand-alone article. Preceding it is a link to  The Institute for Social Ecology O.k. Let's start with this excerpt: What Is Social Ecology? Murray Bookchin ". . . believes that no truly 'green' entrepreneur could survive because ecologically sound practices would place them at fatal disadvantage compared with rivals who can produce at lower costs. (See Social Ecology Critique) Bookchin is well known for his dismissal of Deep Ecology as mystical 'eco-la-la', and it's easy to assume social ecology is suspicious of spirituality. But social ecology was "among the earliest of contemporary ecologies to call for a sweeping change in existing spiritual values." (Bookin. Ibid.) Social ecology aims to replace our mentality of domination with an ethics of complementarity. Such an ethics reflects o...

Jeremy Kuzmarov argues the Cold War case has enduring relevance to American political culture and provides clues to the motives and machinations underlying the new Russophobia. By Jeremy Kuzmarov I n January 1950, Alger Hiss, a former State Department employee and director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was convicted of perjury and sentenced to  five years in a federal penitentiary . The sentence, of which Hiss served 44 months,  culminated a  frenzied political trial  that catapulted Richard Nixon to fame,  undergirded  the advent of  McCarthyism  and heated up the Cold War. Today, it is worth looking back at  the Hiss case   because it offers important clues to the motives and machinations underlying the similarly politicized  Russia-g ate investigations .  In both cases, powerful political players appear to have attempted to deflect acts of malfeasance by falsely accusing political adversaries of ...

By Dan Corjescu To characterize modern day America as a fascist state is at one and the same time both ahistorical and close to the present truth. In order to resolve this apparent contradiction we must understand that modern day fascism displays certain rough, jagged continuities as well as discontinuities with its interwar past. Operationally, fascism was, at least initially, an alliance between ancien regime conservatives, socially and economically insecure elements of the middle classes, and a significant fragment of alienated, radicalized workers. Ideologically what united these disparate groups was a utopian belief in the nation as a higher structural unit uniquely suited to the aims of both internal corporatist social organization and external expansive force as expressed in high stakes international conflict. Looked at from this historical perspective, modern day American fascism is a completely different beast. Firstly, its general, overall class organiz...

Andre Vltchek contrasts the spirits of the peoples of Syria and Afghanistan, the first uplifted and the second, well, just too deeply tragic. Vltchek writes, " After working in some 160 countries on this planet, and after covering and witnessing countless wars and conflicts (most of them ignited or provoked by the West and its allies), I can clearly see the pattern: almost all the countries that fell into the ‘Western sphere of influence’ are now ruined, plundered and destroyed; they are experiencing great disparities between the tiny number of ‘elites’ (individuals who collaborate with the West) and the great majority of those who live in poverty. Most of the countries with close ties to Russia or China (or both), are prospering and developing, enjoying self-governance and respect for their cultures, political systems, and economic structures. " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Syria and Afghanistan. Two terrible wars, two mighty destructions, but two absolutely opp...

Hell yes, build that wall! It worked so well for the Chinese. Meanwhile, DonDon, ever vigilant for a media op to deflect from his blatant incompetence has once more resorted to playing with his little Tweetie (at least that's what Stormy says...), once more blaming the victims of the recent catastrophic fires in California. And I quote "Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!"   That many of this year's fires took place in National Forests (including the largest), or that the area around Paradise tends to vote Republican didn't interfere with a perfectly good tantrum. Personally, impeachment is looking better by the day, in spite of Pence.

Another article about the continuing yellow jacket protests and the state of affairs of the French working class, which I guess is what is meant by the "forgotten France" of the title. The author is Serge Halimi, president of Le Monde diplomatique. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 15, place de l’Opéra, Paris. Three yellow vests read out an address ‘to the French people and the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron’ saying: ‘This movement belongs to no one and to everyone. It gives voice to a people who for 40 years have been dispossessed of everything that enabled them to believe in their future and their greatness.’ The anger provoked by a fuel tax produced, within a month, a wider diagnosis of what ails society and democracy. Mass movements that bring together people with minimal organisation encourage rapid politicisation, which explains why ‘the people’ have discovered that they are ‘dispossessed of their future’ a year after electing as president a man...