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george snedeker | 1 Feb 03:20
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book reviewers wanted

Socialism and Democracy is looking for reviewers for the following two books: 

1. David Laibman, DEEP HISTORY. (This book presents a serious reformulation of the Marxist theory of
stages of historical development). 

2. Stanley Aronowitz, LEFT TURN. (This book presents an argument that the most important task for the Left
in the U.S. is building a new political party). 

If you are interested in reviewing either of these two books, contact me offline at snedeker <at> verizon.net

George
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Sayan Bhattacharyya | 1 Feb 03:47
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Re: Re:Antiwar protests

On 1/31/07, Alexandra Fuller <alexandrafuller1980 <at> hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On the weekend's big DC march, I was thinking that the numbers given by
> the
> UFPJ numbers seemed too large, while the press was seriously lowballing it
> with that "tens of thousands" hooey.

Just out of curiosity, what interest do people think the press (especially
the liberal press) has in lowballing the numbers?
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Fred Feldman | 1 Feb 04:31

Bush and Baker agree that Iraq is too important for withdrawal

US troops will stay in Iraq, and the war will get worse

Bush and Baker agree that the country is much too important to American
interests to be left to its own devices 

Ed Harriman
Thursday February 1, 2007
The Guardian 

The war in Iraq is intensifying. More American combat troops are arriving.
They are in more battles with insurgents. And from Washington there is a
crescendo of briefings accusing the Iranians of flooding Iraq with money and
weapons and even of arming Sunni insurgents. We shouldn't be surprised -
this is what George Bush and his war planners intended. Even the
Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, in its report before Christmas, said it
could support a short-term "surge" to try and regain control of Baghdad.

The bottom line is that the president, the study group and most Washington
policy-makers want to get as many US combat troops as they can out of Iraq
by the US presidential elections in 2008. But that doesn't mean pulling out.

Consider the study group's "solution", which is widely considered
"realistic" and is common ground with the administration. If the official
Iraqi army and police can somehow be miraculously turned into efficient,
disciplined, and loyal fighting forces, then US troops can leave and Iraqis
will be left to kill each other. That would nicely reduce both the estimated
$8bn a month cost of the war, and US casualties.

In addition, the study group wants some 10,000 to 20,000 US troops, mostly
officers, to stay, embedded in the Iraqi units down to company level. US
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Ethan Young | 1 Feb 04:48
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How to end Little Havana's 48-year death watch

There is no surprise that the emigres want a big party when Fidel dies.
They've been waiting a long, long time. But only a few realize that the 
real death watch is for the counterrevolution they hoped to lead. They         
once expected to be escorted back to power by the US armed forces.
But since Playa Giron, all they do is wait and hate.

If the revolution outlives Fidel, even by six months, it ends the
fantasy of a return to the old Cuba, united in hatred for the usurper,
that has held them together all these decades.

So bring on the Miami Bubble Gum Machine. Psycho-macho Andy Garcia 
can MC. Disney can provide an animatronic Batista - what's the Caribbean 
without a robot pirate? They can drink their pretend rum and smoke their 
pretend cigars all night but when the sun comes up they will have to face
the fact that they still have no home.

ethan young

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Roger Raven | 1 Feb 06:17
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Re: Getting Over State Socialism's Crimes

Indeed.   It is ideas, and the proof that those ideas are sound and generally do work, that will generate
public support.   The public are under no obligation to believe; we have to win them over.

Roger

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Benjamin Morgan 
  To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:32 PM
  Subject: Re: [Marxism] Getting Over State Socialism's Crimes

  comrade Ben:

    While analyzing the current political strata of the left you must argue that they didn't choose failure!
have you read the Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's "Empire" post industrial capitalist states
are forming one big globalized empire through information technology. The left, although resilient,
has yet to gain the worker base necessary to efficiently struggle for true socialism; this is for several
reasons. First, without all the massive industries and with outsourcing the capitalist exploit Latin
America, Africa, and the third world outside of the public eye. As we all know the bourgeois control the
entirety of the media playing up Taiwanese sweat shops isn't good for "business". Second, Media is
loosing territorial confines so covert anti-left messages, basically pro-western media is subsuming
the globe that's why socialist states like China attempt to regulate media; although, it's failing when
people in China are listening to fucking rap music teaching
   them capitalism while attempting to fuck up the infrastructure of there society. Rogers right, places
like Argentina and Venezuela's left have made great strides. Even Americans can't deny that although
Cuba is poor poverty rates are negligible. What we need is a revitalization of the left. I believe that
critical pedagogy can be gradually instilled within society and that if we can teach our children another
way of learning in time we can establish to say a counter empire that can ameliorate socialism
misconceptions in the status quo.
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Fred Fuentes | 1 Feb 05:24
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Raby - Latin America's Pink Tide

very interesting article, definitely worth reading (and i would suggest
getting her book too)

http://redpepper.blogs.com/venezuela/2007/01/latin_americas_.html

Latin America's Pink Tide

[Diana Raby, author of *Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and
Socialism Today*,<http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/nplutobrows.pl?chkisbn=9780745324357&main=>argues
that with left-wing victories in Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia,
Ecuador and Nicaragua, social and economic recovery in Cuba and popular
advances elsewhere in the region, journalists are talking about "Latin
America's pink tide" and the region itself has become the forum for
passionate debates on "Socialism of the 21st Century". To purchase *Democracy
and Revolution: Latin America and Socialism
Today<http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/nplutobrows.pl?chkisbn=9780745324357&main=>
* click here<http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/nplutobrows.pl?chkisbn=9780745324357&main=>.
To read the book's first chapter click
here.<http://redpepper.blogs.com/venezuela/2006/10/the_disinherite.html#more>--Ed]

*Latin America's Pink Tide*

*Diana Raby - Red Pepper Venezuela Blog*

*January 31, 2007*

Socialism! For most of us it is still the ideal, but with the collapse of
the Soviet bloc, the defects of China and other neo-Stalinist regimes, and
the sell-out of the Labour Party, it seems more distant than ever. If there
is to be a new model, a real alternative to globalised capitalism, what will
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Walter Lippmann | 1 Feb 07:02
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Chavez Gains Free Rein in Venezuela

(Let's hope these developments give some of Venezuela's perfectionistic
critics something to consider in the weeks and months ahead. So far, it's
evident, nothing that Chavez can do is sufficient to merit their approval:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2007-January/008513.html
==================================================

Chavez Gains Free Rein in Venezuela
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ 
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/01/31/ap/headlines/d8n0j2ig0.txt

Members of the Venezuelan National Assembly vote a law that gives to
the President Hugo Chavez wide-ranging lawmaking authority during an
outdoor legislative session at Plaza Bolivar in Caracas, Wednesday,
Jan. 31, 2007. Lawmakers read out the proposed bill giving the
president special powers for 18 months to transform 11 broadly
defined areas, including the economy, energy and defense.(AP
Photo/Fernando Llano)

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez was granted free rein
Wednesday to accelerate changes in broad areas of society by
presidential decree, a move critics said propels Venezuela toward
dictatorship.

Convening in a downtown plaza in a session that resembled a political
rally, lawmakers unanimously gave Chavez sweeping powers to legislate
by decree and impose his radical vision of a more egalitarian
socialist state.

"Long live the sovereign people! Long live President Hugo Chavez!
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Steffie Brooks | 1 Feb 07:38
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Fw: Chinese Govt. Attacks Marxist Internet Archives

>From http://www.marxists.org/incidents.htm

Attack Log
------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 10 - 13: Sporadic reports come in from volunteers in Australia
and Asia that the MIA is not accesible for a few hours, and then comes
back.

First attack

January 15: MIA detects a series of DoS (Denial of Service) SYN floods
from various Chinese networks. Unlike the attacks of the previous few
days, these are constant. These attacks cause our server to have a
kernel panic and crash. Just as soon as the server reboots, the SYN
floods [CVE-1999-0116] cause another crash, and this continues
constantly.

First, we write a crude script that blocks every SYN flood attempt,
every minute. This is successful only for a short period, as the sheer
number of Chinese IPs sending the SYN floods is too large to overcome.
Next, we figure out that the SYN floods are exploiting a vulnerability
in the Linux kernel (version 2.4.23), and we rebuild the Linux kernel
to version 2.4.34, which overcomes these attacks. Meanwhile, the
nature and origin of the attack, our previous history with the Chinese
government (censorship, etc), and the experience of others suggest
that this maybe politically motivated and directed by the Chinese
government.
1 hour sample of attacking IP origins
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Walter Lippmann | 1 Feb 12:31
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Change of sex will be free in Cuba

PROGRESO WEEKLY
February 1, 2007

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Cuban_Radar&otherweek=1170309600
or 
http://tinyurl.com/ywht6r

Change of sex will be free

According to the latest edition of the newsletter Diversidad
(Diversity), the National Assembly of Popular Power (parliament) will
discuss the issue of free sex change surgery, meaning that the health
care public system will treat all persons who apply.

The measure would complement the present Identity Law that already
acknowledges the right of citizens to change name and sexual
identity. This places Cuba at the vanguard of the legislations that
acknowledge the rights of transvestites, transsexuals and transgender
in Latin America.

“We have decided to begin with transsexuals because they are the most
vulnerable from the point of view of physical and psychological
health,” said Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Center
of Sexual Education (CENESEX).

According to the publication, Cuba’s parliament will present several
favorable measures for the LGTB (Lesbians, Gays, Trans and Bisexuals)
community in 2007, including the legalization of same sex unions.

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Pance Stojkovski | 1 Feb 14:29
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RELAY #15 - Jan/Feb 2007 - available for download

JUST PUBLISHED RELAY #15

(Jan/Feb 2007)

The cracks and contradictions in the American empire seem to be
mounting weekly. Economic slowdown, the messes in Afghanistan and
Iraq, the third front opened in Somalia, the new nationalizations in
Venezuela are but a small list. In Canada, less dramatic but equally
telling problems have been taking the lustre off the Harper minority
government.

The new issue of Relay explores some of the openings this poses for
the Left, as well as the continued resiliency and capacities of the
American empire. These issues are discussed in terms of the U.S.
election, the American economy, and developments in third countries,
such as Cuba, Greece, Venezuela and others.

Also taken up are some of the dilemmas and opportunities facing the
Canadian Left. A critical aspect here is the issues based by the
recent 'nation' debate. There are also new challenges for
party-building, with articles covering the recent Quebec Solidaire
conventions and a proposal on the question of party-building in
English Canada. And much more.

Table of Contents:

Canada

* A Proposal for a Discussion on Party Building
(http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay15_proposal.pdf)
(Continue reading)

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Gmane