bye bye dictators

The struggle is global and increasingly so. What has happened on the
streets of Athens, Paris, Dhaka, Cairo, Tunis, Shanghai, is a global
reaction to the increased exploitation of labour by capitalism since
2007. And the dawning realization that THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE for the
working class, especially not cozy retreat into NAtionalism and
Keynesianism in the face of bare-faced corruption and whole-scale
plunder by the elites. The working class, on a global basis, is now very
much conscious of the fact that the elite intend to pummel it into
obedience through the threat of mass unemployment. The reserve army of
Capitalism has become the most potent weapon to keep the rabble in line,
and people the world over are being pushed back to accept wages that can
barely enable the reproduction of labour power. In every industrial park
around the world, you will hear workers openly state that THEY have got
the upper hand and that WE are divided, fearful, angry, but that events
are coming to a head.
Bangladesh, China, USA, Indonesia, Europe, India : workers are bitterly
resentful and lament the fact that their unions are led by bureaucracies
that are part and parcel of the establishment. Following the Tunisian
example, workers are setting themselves alight in front of workplaces
all over the globe.
They are not stupid, they do not equate "free and fair elections" with
emancipation, even though they welcome the end of feared dictators with
trepidation. But there is something more in their thirst for "democracy"
than simply casting a ballot and cheering tanks on the streets.
NAtionalism is not going to solve unemployment, AND THEY KNOW IT,
although they recognize NAtionalist politicians as taking steps in teh
right direction by curbing the power of the corrupt elites linked to the
interests of transnationals.
But again, the global working class is not stupid, and if anything, is
more aware than ever of the fact that those who rule it are self-serving
politicians.
I'm not going to start preaching again about self-management and
workers' councils, but ultimately, THAT is the only possible outcome
that can really destroy the foundations of Capitalism (wage labour and
division at the production level). It will take a renewed bout of
experimentation, what with the 60-70s so far behind us, and the 2010s so
menacingly full of heightened control over the workforce and decreased
levels of unionizing.

Well, Leonardo Kosloff seems to have it spot on with his calls for

>>"the issue of making the
struggle a bit more “scientific” (sorry if that sounds “bombastic”),
with more “independent
research” and no indoctrination. So, for instance, I want to question
the views
a lot of people on the left have about monopoly capital and other
versions of 3rd
wordlist Marxist nationalism, not because I am for a US invasion of Cuba
to end
the Castroist dictatorship, or whatever people wanna call it, but, on
the
contrary, because keeping ourselves illusioned about post-capitalism in
an
abstract ideological propagandistic struggle helps neither Cubans nor
the left
here to understand “what is to be done”.

Workers of the World : Follow the Egyptian example !

Disgusted by Obama's speech on Egypt ? "We have always had a strong
relationship with Egypt" and "We will work with their [the Egyptian
people's] government for a future of freedom, justice and democracy".

Posted on Marxmail by Manuel Barrera :

Obama's and Secretary Clinton's statements are codewords for calling on Mubarak (or whomever is set up to replace Mubarak) to conduct a crackdown on the insurgent masses, especially any sectors that challenge the U.S./Egypt collaboration that maintains the Israel regime. There is a method to these seemingly innocuous statements--position oneself for supporting any military or oligarchical factions to suppress in the name of "curbing violence" the rising revolutionary tide soon to spread even further.


Solidarity actions, no matter how small are important work, right now, to register that there are supporters of the Egyptian people (and Tunisian, Yemeni, Jordanian, and other peoples of the Middle East). In the U.S., there are actions so far called for tomorrow in San Francisco ( NOON gathering at Market & Montgomery), Chicago (2 pm, Egyptian Consulate), and online petition efforts (http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_egypt/?rc=fb). There must be others (U.K., Ireland, France?) and I wonder how Cuba and the Latin American states are responding?


Here is a chance to register our support to a revolutionary upsurge that speaks to our own problems of economic crisis and of the attacks on democratic rights [in "post-industrialized"
nations"].

These are times made for us !

Boycott Foxconn

Foxconn, the Chinese company that produces the iphone, the ipod and the ipad
has been described as "a forced labour camp" by a 2010 report.

Foxconn makes electronic components for :
Apple
Hewlett-Packard
Dell
Nintendo
Nokia
Sony Ericsson

The company's largest operation is "Foxconn City", a cramped, walled
compound in Shenzhen, which contains 400 000 workers in 15 plants,
complete with its own over-crowded dormitories, fire brigade, bank,
grocery store (where workers must buy their groceries), hospital and
library. The Chinese police is not allowed to enter "Foxconn City" which
has its own "security agency".
Very, very serious allegations of human rights abuses keep emerging from
Foxconn city (see 2010 report). Foxconn city has its own internal
television network which broadcasts only within the complex.
The surrounding technical colleges have a partnership with Foxconn,
where they furnish thousands of students to work on the assembly lines
for long hours and no pay, and the schools get a subsidy from Foxconn.

In October, 2010, a report by 20 Chinese universities described Foxconn
factories as labour camps and detailed widespread worker abuse and
illegal overtime. Workers who fell asleep due to exhaustion were beaten,
forced to write out lines a thousand times. Before getting up from
his/her post a worker has to ask permission from the supervisor. No
worker is allowed to mover more than 50 meters from his work post. No
talking, chatting or laughter is allowed at any time. Going to the
toilet is timed and is added to the worker's work time. Some workers
have to work up to 17 hours a day for months at a time, with no overtime
pay.

The report was a huge reaction to a spate of worker suicides where
fourteen died in 2010. These 14 workers committed suicide by jumping
from high buildings.

In response to the suicides, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention
netting at some facilities. It also hired an American firm to make
"psychological profiles" of employees, in order to weed out those "who
are incapable of dealing with stressful working conditions."

Leave comments if you have any suggestions as to the best way to
boycott Foxconn. Again, the biggest problem seems to be the fact that they
manufacture most of the components that go into the iphone and ipod.
The workers of the world are cut off from each other in the process of production,
and only come into contact indirectly through the exchange of commodities
in the market. Working class solidarity must stripe the veil that covers the
production of most of the commodities we use in our everyday lives.

Marxism and Buddhism

Buddhism and Marxism have quite a good deal in common.

On Marxmail, Greg McDonald wrote :

Buddhists have lots of good ideas, if you can
separate the wheat from the chaff.

Agreed. Both are materialist philosophies, both hold inter-personal relationships as
the material basis for causality, both downplay the role of the individual ego and
ascribe it to a nexus of factors caused by external causality, both envision
change as a complex, dialectical process.
The main difference of course, is that Buddhism, while sympathetic to Marxism,
sees a change within the relationships of production as insufficient to achieve
true "enlightenment". Buddhism focuses on the recognition by an individual that
his/her "self" does not really exist but is the result of attachment to identity brought
about by external sensory stimuli. There is no "me", there is just constant
thought brought about by external stimuli.
Marxists, while regarding this emphasis on understanding the non-existence of the ego as
irrelevant, will have nothing to object to Buddhist psychology as such.
Stimuli-like/dislike-craving/hatred-idea of "self"-reaction-new inter-personal causality which
restarts the cycle. The only way to freedom is not through God, according to Buddhists, but through
recognizing that the "self" is not static, but a process of stimuli/reaction ."Letting go of attachments" is the way to happiness according to Buddhism.
This is a very, very long process (dozens of years of arduous self-reflection), before an individual can attain "nirvana".

La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !

I certainly hope that workers' councils will evolve in Tunisia, but I don't know if they will/can come out of neighborhood watches.
The mass movement of unemployed workers must continue to push - through both daily rallies and through conscious efforts at self-organization.

Wild cat strikes have long been a favourite of Tunisian workers, who would occupy the buildings of the main UGTT buildings to force the union to take up their grievances.
In the last two decades, many wild cat strikes prompted prolonged confrontation with riot police and the mukhabarat, who always managed to cordon off and contain the unrest (kids throwing stones, workers on indefinite strike, women camping in front of ministries) to certain
sectors.
To escape from the terrible repression that inevitably followed such uprisings, many Tunisians workers were then forced to flee abroad and to try to make their way to "fortress Europe".
Those who were deported back to Tunisia were tortured by the regime.
Those who managed to remain in Europe joined the many Tunisian Socialist organizations in exile.
So there is a very strong tradition of workers' solidarity and a culture of voicing grievances in Tunisia. That's why the Ben Ali regime was so determined to stamp out any dissidence and that's why it was an extremely repressive police state. The Mukhabarat, the sinister Tunisian
secret police, was/is very skilled at containing dissidence and instilling fear. No wonder the slogan on the streets yesterday was :"No More Fear !" La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !
The tourism industry is/was a constant concern for Tunisian leaders. It is thought that 80% of Tunisian taxi drivers were/are Mukhabarat informers and a similar percentage of Hotel owners. The Mukhabarat also maintains/maintained an impressive network of informants throughout
Tunisia and extensively monitored all cell phone and internet-based communications.

The regime and the private interests that are closely intertwined with its very existence will now try to appease the crowds with promises of FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, and by coopting a few moderate left-wing opposition figures from the many political leaders in exile.
France supported Ben Ali to the bitter end, and will now put its weight behind an "interim" government, providing Tunisian troops with weaponry and funding. France previously announced it was ready to send military advisors and special units to "help any new Tunisian government cope".
The old CDR regime will probably have to change its name, despite the presence of a few hard-core "loyalists", but the same nexus of corrupt politicians and financial interests intends to continue dominating the country, with French help.
France's role in Tunisian history has always been pivotal and will unfortunately remain so (the entire Tunisian elite was and is still being educated in Paris). I really hope Tunisian workers (either employed or unemployed) continue to push hard and manage to overthrow
the whole establishment.
So far the homes of corrupt businessmen have been set alight, those notoriously connected to the Ben Ali family. The Army now seems to have stopped such outbursts.

Gay service(wo)men in the US army

An exchange that took place on the Marxmail list :

I cant' believe that you guys are still fooling around with whether gay
people should be allowed to serve in the US Army.
The answer is of course YES.
Gay soldiers should be allowed to get hit by Kalashinkov (or M-16) fire.
What makes them cleverer than heterosexuals, Blacks, women, Irish,
Indians, Asians, and any other recognized group that has enlisted ?
Homosexuals are just as capable of slaughter when commanded to do so.

Mark Lause wrote :

"participation in the military, among other reasons,is often the best chance
the poor have of getting anywhere different in this society. It's the key to
an education, to a decent job, to the kind of future that some may well be taking
for granted."

No, I beg to disagree. Willingly choosing to kill people when ordered to do so by
the state can never be excused, even though it brings short-term money in.
And all those soldiers will NOT get a "decent job and diplomas" when they come back. That is a lie.
They will not get the equivalent of the GI Bill of 1945 enabling them to go to college for free. That is a lie.
They will return with nothing to show for killing 60,000 to 120,000 civilians in Irak (give or take).

Whether an external threat or an internal threat, the Army will always
do its duty as loyal servant to those who yield power (privileges).

It is the basic hierarchical structure of the armed forces we object to.
I mean we, Libertarian Marxists, not we, "anything goes" Marxists.

The Army is a harmful institution that is purposefully disjointed from
the people, and purposefully entrusted with powerful weapons to subdue
the people.

Mid-term elections in the US

Who will win the next elections is synonymous with who will betray the working class's hopes and aspirations ?

The answer is : those who seek power above and over the working class.

To encourage the working class to vote for them is to participate in reinforcing the apathy of the working class by telling workers that they count for nothing and that their role is simply to "vote right" (no pun intended).

Working class consciousness is always battered and ridiculed, as the question arises for whom to vote ?
For him ! For her ! For them ! Vote against conservatism !
The social relationships that characterize the commodity mode of production breed passivity and resignation.
The day workers renounce representative democracy will be the day they take charge of running their own lives.
Control over one's life and working conditions is much more than casting a vote in favour of one group of people intent on harvesting surplus value.
It can only be achieved through One Big Union, and I may add, a union based on self-management and which eschews "representative democracy".