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Andrew Pollack | 1 Jan 01:02
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sundry cultural stuff

1. This year's Classical Countdown on WQXR ends tomorrow night (1/1/07) with Beethoven's 5th (#2) and 9th
(#1). That's not unusual. What's interesting, though, is who they've chosen to perform them. The 5th will
be done by the Venezuela Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra, whose conductor, Gustav Dudamel, has been
getting rave reviews. And the 9th will be done by Daniel Barenboim and the  West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
(which he cofounded with Edward Said). Not too shabby.  

http://www.wqxr.com/cgi-bin/iowa/air/playlist/index.html?date=200701010000

2. Also see below on where Derek and the Dominoes got the title for "Layla." 
------------
(sent to another list)
OK, this may be another one of those "Duh, you're just finding that
out?" moments, but it's still worth mentioning -- in fact precisely
because of that.

The Times Book Review today reviews a book on two "making of the album"
books, one about the Stones' "Exile on Main Street," the other 
"Layla"
by Derek and the Dominos.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/books/review/Light.t.html)

It says: "Released in 1970, the album — and its soaring, anthemic title
song, still an overplayed staple on classic rock radio — takes its name
from an 800-year-old Bedouin poem about unrequited love: 'the
equivalent of Romeo and Juliet,' Reid writes."

I'd never heard that this is where the name came from, and more
importantly, had never heard of the original poem. (The review doesn't
say how Clapton or his colleagues heard of it.)
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Walter Lippmann | 1 Jan 01:11
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Socialism Comes of Age in Venezuela

Venezuela today constitutes the very vanguard of the revolutionary
process on the Latin American continent. As the economic powerhouse
which helps to augment and strengthen the process of continental
integration, helping its weaker cousins to throw off the yoke of IMF
indebtedness, the Bolivarian process is one which socialists everywhere
must study attentively. Working with a solid political mandate and in a
constitutional framework, Chavez and his collaborators, which include
a substantial contingent of Cuban medical and educational providers,
are constructing the foundation for a new Latin America. They're also
able to use the irrational appetite of the advanced capitalist countries,
above all the United States, for petroleum, to their advantage for the
financing of domestic as well as international infrastructural growth.

So far, they have not needed to impose politically repressive steps as
they've been able to defeat the rightist, Washington-backed opposition
at the political game. No one can know how long they'll be able to do
this, of course. There's no guarantee that the process will continue to
be successful, either. Thus the timeliness and urgency to build a new
political instrument to unite all who want to be part of the process and
to give the process more of an institutionalized character. Note carefully
Chavez has called for the formation of the new party, but hasn't spelled
out all, or any, of its programmatic bases nor its organizational statutes.
Naturally this is throwing those elements for whom having a completely
spelled-out "correct program" is the foundation for anything for a loop.

This is a living process, not an arbitrary schema. No doubt Chavez has 
his own ideas about what is to be done and how it should be done, but
it doesn't appear that he has all of the answers which he's presenting to
the people of the country in fixed, finished and final form. Chavez speaks
in the the language of his national and regional traditions. The year 2007
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michael a. lebowitz | 1 Jan 04:50
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re: Socialism Comes of Age in Venezuela

	An unfortunate header--- belied by the story content and commentary. 
Lots of struggles to come yet first.
		in solidarity,
		michael
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela.
NOTE NEW PHONE NUMBERS
Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-6333, 571-1520, 571-3820 (or hotel cell: 0412-200-7540)
fax: (58-212) 573-7724

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Jacob Levich | 1 Jan 04:51
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Re: sundry cultural stuff

It's a great, seminal work of literature that's worth looking up. But 
somehow the Times always manages to get things at least slightly wrong --  
wrong enough in this case that anyone wanting to find the source would be 
frustrated. The song was inspired by Nezami's _Layla and Majnun_ -- an 
800-year old _Persian_ romance based on a much older Arab folktale. I 
imagine Clapton came across it because Sufi mysticism was briefly in vogue 
during the 1960s.

The song "I Am Yours" on the same album, an excerpt from the longer poem, is 
actually credited to Nezami.

Jake

>
> It says: "Released in 1970, the album - and its soaring, anthemic title
> song, still an overplayed staple on classic rock radio - takes its name
> from an 800-year-old Bedouin poem about unrequited love: 'the
> equivalent of Romeo and Juliet,' Reid writes."
>
> I'd never heard that this is where the name came from, and more
> importantly, had never heard of the original poem. (The review doesn't
> say how Clapton or his colleagues heard of it.)

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Fred Feldman | 1 Jan 04:57

Saddam buried in his hometown -- humiliating defeat for occupation govt may help fuel the "surge"

 <http://www.nytimes.com/> In my opinion, this article is propaganda for the
"surge" as directed against the Shia  regime, which is losing Kurdish
support, never had any to speak of from the Sunnis, and is not inspiring
much enthusiasm among the Shia masses.. Basically, Burns -- an aggressive
propagandist for the war on human-rights grounds before the US invasion
(basically a suave male Judith Miller) -- uses Saddam's execution and his
courageous performance in defiance of his Shia executioners (his US
executioners having wisely stayed away) to highlight the deepening isolation
of the occupation governnment and the need for the surge on "save the Sunni"
human-rights grounds among others.

The tormenting of  Hussein by the chanting of Sadr's name becomes a pretext
to repeat the US government line that Sadr is now the source of most of the
violence in Iraq. Maliki's attempt to keep the body in his office in the
name of protecting ot frp, desecration is a little masterpiece of sick
humor.

The execution has turned into a big defeat for the Maliki government.  But
it may not be a pure-and-simple defeat for the occupying power, if it serves
the divide and rule strategy that has always been  at the heart of
imperialist domination of Iraq, and now more than ever. 
December 31, 2006 

Hussein Is Buried in His Hometown 

By
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_f_burns/i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 - The body of
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Mike Friedman | 1 Jan 05:11
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Happy New Year!

Espero que todos Disfruten de un ano nuevo esperanzador y exitoso! Y que
saquen fuerzas para las luchas que se aproximan. Hope everyone has a
hopeful and successful New Year! Draw strength for the coming struggles!

In solidarity!
Mike

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John Obrien | 1 Jan 05:52
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Best Wishes for a Year of Struggle & Change

Comrades,

Wishing that the Year 2007, brings much struggle and change for a better 
world!

With hope and many bright glimmers - from the Bolivarian Revolution, to the 
EZLN in Chiapas, and the struggle in Oaxaca, Mexico, to the people of Iraq, 
Iran and Palestine, to the fighters in Nepal, the Phillipines and Indonesia, 
to the brave hunger strikers in Turkey's prisons - to the efforts by 
immigrants around the world, demanding respect and justice - and for all 
those struggling against racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, exploitation - 
and capitalism.

For the working and oppressed of Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, the 
Pacific Islanders and the Americas - I send best wishes - and hopes for 
better unity and working together, for the coming years!!!

John O'Brien
Los Angeles, California

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Mark Lause | 1 Jan 06:01
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RE: Best Wishes for a Year of Struggle & Change

Happy New Year to all!  Eastern Time Zone has just celebrated the Annual
Calendar Flip.

Looking around though, everything looks much the same as 2006.

ML

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g.maclennan | 1 Jan 09:10
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Re: Saddam buried in his hometown -- humiliating defeat for occupation govt may help fuel the "surge"


2007 promises to be a truly bloody year.  I was shocked by the execution of Saddam. Of course I have no time for
the thug Saddam- none at all.  But his enemies have contrived to give him the air of a nationalist martyr.

The absolute goonish incompetence of the Shia politicians is beyond belief. To compound matters they
carefully recorded their boorish bullying of the condemned man and posted it on the net in case we did not
know about it.

I agree that al Maliki is a big loser. That he could surrender the moral high ground to a muderous tyrant like
Saddam beggars belief.

The execution and the manner in which it was carried out will sow dissension  and of course the imperialists
will be the beneficiaries in the short to medium term.  

Sunni-Shia antagonism will be suitably inflamed and the Shiites are apparently too stupid to see that
makes them more vulnerable to attack from the Americans.

Yet there remains the danger that a large scale attack on  the
Sadrists or even on Iran could produce unity against the Americans.

In any event 2007 will be marked by a surge in Iraq and the bombing of Iran.

That will turn out to be a war too ar.

regards

Gary

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Dbachmozart | 1 Jan 15:43
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US ruling class - Bush not guarding overall interests


_http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/123106C.shtml_ 
(http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/123106C.shtml) 
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Gmane