www.newsandletters.org











NEWS & LETTERS, November-December 2005

Readers' Views

Contents:

FRANCE: PART OF THE GLOBAL REVOLT OF THE DISPOSSESSED

The way the uprising in the Parisian banlieues spontaneously spread to dozens of cities throughout France and then to Belgium and Germany suggests that this is part of a continent-wide rising of youth against the empty promises of economic development and integration. A match has been lit that may not easily go out.

--Student, Chicago

One thing that frustrates me in trying to understand what is going on in France is that no one tells us what the youth involved in the riots are saying. Everyone seems to have an analysis of what is happening but no one seems to ask the youth why they are doing these things.

--Feminist, Missouri

As a recent immigrant to the U.S. who once lived in France, I can assure you that what many youth are feeling in Paris, Lyons and elsewhere is not so different from what African Americans here say about police abuse and insensitive government bureaucrats. This is about racism, not religion.

--Pakistani immigrant, Illinois

LUTTE OUVRIERE, one of the main leftist (Trotskyist) parties in France that often gets over 5% of the vote in national elections, has pretty much written off the revolt in France as the work of a disorganized mob. They wrote in their newspaper on Nov. 1: "Clearly, the principal victims of this violence are the inhabitants of these suburbs...when the youth take on firemen as representatives of authority, it doesn’t show a very high level of political consciousness." Where is the "political consciousness" of these "leftists"? Can’t they realize that there is purpose and reason when young people take to the streets against unemployment, police abuse, and poverty? Perhaps such attitudes explain why the French Left seems as distant from the uprising as the political leaders in Paris or Brussels.

--Anarchist, Illinois

What worries me is that this divide between recent immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East and the native residents of France will provide a new recruiting ground for the Islamic fundamentalists.

--Concerned, New York

The revolt in over 100 suburbs in France is an uprising of a generation of disaffected youth who face a 40% unemployment rate, racism, and police abuse. Over half of those arrested are between 12 and 18 years old. Most of those involved in the "riots" are not of recent North African or Middle Eastern origin. They are second or even third generation descendants of immigrants. Most were born and raised in a country that has completely marginalized them. There is no evidence of participation by Islamic fundamentalists in the street actions and the slogans of political Islam has not been heard in them. This is a revolt from within European civilization, not from outside of it. The youth want to obtain the fruits of a civilization that has long been denied to them--much as African Americans in Watts 1965, Los Angeles 1992, and Cincinnati 2000 revolted against social conditions in the U.S. to obtain the freedom, democracy and economic development so long denied to them. With these "riots" we are facing a globalization of the marginalized in reaction to the marginalization produced by globalization.

--Peter Hudis, Chicago

If you want to understand the angry young North Africans who are causing all this upheaval in France, just listen to the music most of them spend much of their time absorbing--hip-hop. They know a lot more about the culture of African Americans than their own French rulers know about them.

--Freedom fighter, Indiana

The recent revolt by immigrant African youth was sparked by--surprise, surprise--police brutality. Connecting the dots from Los Angeles to Benton Harbor, Michigan to Paris isn't hard if you're paying any attention. When youth start connecting our revolts and understand that a philosophy of liberation can guide anger in the streets into a full-fledged liberation struggle, then we'll be a real threat. Call it a "riot" and marginalize it at your own risk.

--Brown Douglass, Memphis

The Right is saying the French are getting what they deserve for not supporting Bush. The real story, of course, is that French society and French-style capitalism is thoroughly racist, just as it is in the U.S. Now that their abstract egalitarianism has been totally exposed, they are making noises about giving ghetto youth more opportunities. It reminds me of stories from Detroit after 1967 when employers set up offices in the ghetto, very briefly, welcoming the so-called "hardcore" unemployed into jobs. The real question for today is whether the minority youth of France become the spark to re-ignite a new anti-capitalist movement in Europe.

--Black senior citizen, California

HURRICANES AND CAPITAL

Hurricanes are influenced by human action. Most global scientists agree that our dependence on petrochemicals caused global climate change, which has warmed the oceans. The attack on nature is more evident in the creation of levees to keep the mighty Mississippi at bay and in the huge canal system designed to allow for the easy pumping and transport of oil and gas through the bayous to the Mississippi. The construction of canals and draining of much of the bayous has eliminated a major source of absorption which, like a sponge, soaked up the natural fluctuation of the river and water from storms like Katrina. The oil and gas industry pushed the Corp of Engineers to do much of this interference with the ecology of the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans, the high land was inhabited by the rich and the low land (which flooded the worst) was where the poor lived. It only reinforces our vision of capital as rapacious at every turn. There is hardly a place we can look that does not reveal its vile teeth marks.

--Allan L., Memphis

STOPPING BUSH'S CRIMES

George W. Bush has demonstrated his disdain towards the well being of the American people and humanity at large over and over--not only by sending thousands of young Americans to die in his jihad against Iraq, but in his non-response to the latest string of natural disasters. I think three things should be done. First he should be impeached. Second the UN should charge him for the war crimes he has committed. Third, he should be punished for his terrible crimes against humanity. As Americans we all have a responsibility to see that our country is run to meet the needs of the American people. We need to take our country back before it's too late.

--New subscriber, Wisconsin

At our regular Wednesday morning street peace demonstration here, an African-American woman who was driving a MATA bus opened her window to correct one of the signs we were holding that said "Bush lied, 1,000 died!" She yelled, "It's 2,000 now." Her outrage was echoed in the honking horns and other positive reactions we got from those driving by. I couldn't help but think about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died and continue to do so--about 1,000 a month in Baghdad alone--because Bush lied.

--Feminist Peace Activist, Memphis

In the wake of Katrina, two Black activists have launched a new, online organization, ColorofChange.org, to give a stronger voice to Black concerns in U.S. politics. In its first month, the site attracted 10,000 members. One of the founders is James Rucker, a veteran leader of online activism. The other is Van Jones, executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. They say their early success is a sign that Katrina was a "wake-up call" for many "middle-class Black folks like ourselves (who) got a clear dose of reality. While many of us are doing well, millions of our folks have been left behind. When we saw the TV screens, the emotions were almost universal." They say the poor Black folks they left behind were no longer invisible after Katrina hit. They are asking for all people to become the color of change.

--Correspondent, Bay Area

I am a 17 year old activist, so the moment I heard about a march planned for Dec. 1 to rally in New York City's Union Square and then to march to Wall Street, I knew I had to get involved. I'm organizing for a strike at my high school and I'm inviting everybody that I can to join the event. I want to get the recruiters out of our schools and our troops out of Iraq. Please help me spread the invitation to join us.

--High School Student, New York

THE TERMINATOR'S DEFEAT

It was no accident that nurses and teachers took the lead in deflating Arnold Schwarzenegger's larger than life public persona as well as his agenda put forth in four defeated propositions he got on the Nov. 8 ballot here. If the victory over the Terminator gave new life to the labor movement, as many pundits are now saying, it arose out of an ongoing struggle in the workplace in professions dominated by women.

--Labor activist, California

The defeat of Arnold Schwarzeneggermight be a "Pyrrhic victory." Some $200 million was spent in this useless battle introduced by the corporate powers which Arnold represents. As one teacher said, "Imagine all the things that could have been done with all that money for the classrooms" while the unions had to fight a rearguard battle and Arnold blew hot air about "improving education" by attacking the teaching profession. It's almost like Conan the Giant threatening to strangle the goose if she doesn't lay enough golden eggs.

--Healthcare worker, California

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER?

Three cities inscribe the moment in the Fall of 2005: Baghdad, New Orleans, and Toledo. As we put the complex, multiform pieces together to try to project a vision of the future alternative to the commodity form of life, Baghdad is finally of a piece with Pretoria, Lagos, Caracas, Buenos Aires, Port Au Prince, Karachi and Hanoi. New Orleans is finally of a piece with the suburbs of Paris. Toledo is finally of a piece with Brixton. Everybody who shops at Walmart is connected with a slave labor camp in China. The American exchange of wage-labor with capital is stretched to the breaking point. A wasteful military-industrial-complex siphons off the wealth of society, capital leads in the race to the bottom, and whole divisions of the industrial-reserve army are in the lockdown of a vicious prison-industrial complex in a country with the highest rates of incarceration in the world.

Bush is just a symptom, serving the imperatives of the law of value. People can be guided by the theory that emerges from their own experience, as they reach for an idea imminent in the philosophy of freedom: their own self-transcendence into the universal possibilities of the human subjects of history.

--Tom More, Spokane

VOICES OF REASON FROM WITHIN THE PRISON WALLS

The atrocious lack of support and relief for the victims of Katrina is unimaginable. Five years ago I lived in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the separation of classes is so profound that one must actually endure the inhumanity associated with it in order to have any rational idea as to its scope. The press has raised the race issue, but they are off the mark. The fundamental problem relates to the unfair distribution of wealth, and the apparent priority of property over people.

In the months and years to follow, we shall witness further posturing and various mainstream political parties will point the finger at each other. In the end, nothing will change and those who could afford the necessary insurance will be paid off, while those that were barely making a living and had no actual property, will still have nothing. Apparently if you don't have a Platinum VISA Card, you don't count as a human being.

--Prisoner , Vacaville, California

I would like to thank you for finding a donor to let me read N&L. I really love it. The articles about Bush and his big lies are great, because it is the truth.

--Prisoner, Raiford, Florida

Thanks for remaining on the frontlines in the battles against oppression and tyranny. Over the last 10 years I have not found a publication that continually wages war against the atrocities which too often escape the notice of the mainstream news publications. This is the 10th year of my unjust incarceration. N&L has helped me over the years to put my own struggles in proper perspective in light of the larger menace the state of Texas and the U.S. government has instituted by the establishment of the multibillion dollar prison-industrial-complex. Thank you for keeping hope alive!

--Black Cheyenne, Texas

I believe that America was built on a lot of scheming and trickery of Caucasians. But your paper has such good history that I am being brought more into the true knowledge of history. The most important parts of N&L for me are "Black-Red View" and "Workshop Talks."

--Prisoner, Sanderson, Florida

Thank you for the privilege of reading your paper. As one who is held captive in one of California's toughest concentration camps, it does more than suit the purpose to have a positive outlet. Most people believe the "hype" too often. Your paper sets the record straight. I'm a firm believer when it comes to education on all levels. Crime, whether it is petty or serious, comes from lack of education 98% of the time.

--Prisoner, Crescent City, California

CAPITALISM

I found the essay "A proletarian critique of Starbucks" in the last issue of N&L interesting, important, and relative to N&L's recent classes on Marx's CRITIQUE OF THE GOTHA PROGRAM. It's an analysis of what capitalism is. T.C. Autumn's statement "All retail laborers are a cost as they do not produce value" seems correct. It means to me that although they produce "profits" for the companies, they do not produce "surplus value." It means that surplus value and profits are two different things. However, I disagree that the Starbucks workers "produce nothing." The Starbucks worker does more than exchange commodities for money. Just as a cook produces a meal, the Starbucks worker produces a drinkable cup of coffee. A cook can make a meal and produce value under capitalism, or he can cook a meal for friends and not produce value.

--Basho, California

What does it mean to have a revolution? Does it mean with guns or is it about new human relations? Capitalism interjects itself between people. "Free trade" means freedom for things vs. people who are left in captivity. When the World Bank talks about an anti-poverty program it means building a dam and evicting masses of people who then have no way to make a living. They create a huge surplus population who were poor but then are made absolutely destitute. If new machinery coming into a factory freed people to do creative things it would be great but it is just used to dominate the workers. When TV first came out, teachers saw it as a wonderful educational tool, but it wasn't developed for education but for commercials.

--Jan, California

Marx helped us to focus on the root causes of the crisis we face: the undermining and destruction of the original sources of all wealth, the worker and nature. What is called for is a revolution that will place the worker and the earth in their rightful place, creating a social system that sustains, enhances and empowers all organisms to live. Creating a system that is not only aware of humanity and nature but that is designed to embrace and celebrate their existence. Viva la revolution.

--New Marxist-Humanist, Memphis

I was wondering why Bush was undertaking such a vigorous attack on a disease peril like bird flu that hasn't actually yet emerged. His outrageous ignoring of a real crisis like what we saw in New Orleans made me question what asking Congress for $7.1 billion to prepare for the possibility of a flu pandemic was really all about. Then I saw that the report on it in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE of Nov. 2 said: "The plan which Bush outlined would take years to implement and may be of most immediate benefit to drug companies that make flu vaccine." It was just a matter-of-fact report, but it sure answered my question.

--Ready for the revolution, Chicago

As I was going over the news on msn.com, I came upon an article about sneaky companies and their pension plans I'd like to share. The article is about the way most companies hide huge pensions for their CEOs. It was revealed by the new boss at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox. He's concerned about what the truth of the "stealth" pensions might mean for investors, but I thought it was important for all of us to know. He takes Pfizer as his example, where their CEO Henry McKinnell earned more than $38 million between 2002 and 2004 in salary, bonus, stock grants, options and other incentive payments. That's a lot, but what blows my mind is that his pension plan adds to that nothing less than "an $83 million dollop of retirement pay."

It's not that I think any of us would be surprised by what Michael Brush wrote. It's just that seeing a major columnist putting it down in black and white for the public-at-large is both heartening and disheartening at the same time, especially in light of the way the pensions of so many ordinary workers have just been thrown into the waste bin after years and years of hard labor.

--Observer, Illinois

WHY THE ID?

In your article "Iraq's reactionary draft constitution" (Our Life and Times, September-October N&L), you give credit to Doug Ireland for being a notable exception to the way the voices of Iraqi women's groups have had their voices ignored by much of the leftist and progressive media, writing that "A notable exception is the writings of gay journalist Doug Ireland's articles for ZNet." Why do you identify him as "gay"? He has the credentials, his orientation is not (should not be) of concern to anyone.

--Longtime supporter, Canada

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

It is estimated that the dangers of environmental hazards are 30 times more dangerous than that of terrorism. We have had a year of disasters--Thailand, Indonesia, U.S. and more recently Pakistan. In the UK hundreds of thousands of families have been affected by flooding. It is easier for the state to silence or ignore its critics than to introduce new policies. I have been waiting for the Green Party or ecological groups to make some progress in the area, but the right to roam, recycling household waste and protecting the fox seem to be the most that can be achieved. They seem to have come to a dead end.

Unless the vested interests are challenged, unless the corruption and maladministrations are exposed, the trajectory of natural disaster coupled with incompetence will continue. Who is willing to challenge it?

--Pat Duffy, Birmingham, England

MARXISM, HUMANISM AND THE LEFT

I have had the opportunity to read several issues of N&L. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see a periodical with the zest and intelligence that your publication possesses, and with a clear mandate to dialectically combine Humanism and Marxism in a world where all too often the Marxists shun the Humanists and the Humanists fear the Marxists. Please add my name to your subscription list.

--New Reader, Calgary, Canada

Marx, even while describing how capitalism undermines itself, also points to the possibility of the positive creation that can happen with workers creating something new. What's cool about News and Letters Committees is that it is always looking for that. That's not always evident in Left thought. Always looking for the force of revolution that is in the present is what I liked about the article on TennCare and the Lead on New Orleans in the September-October issue. They were about who are the actors working for that new day now.

--Eco-Marxist, Tennessee

VACATION POSTCARD

We are visiting the Isle of Man and just beginning to find out something about its history and politics. It's an interesting example of how a very small country can be self-governing and have a distinct national identity. This claims to be the first place in the world where women got the vote on equal terms with men--in 1880. The Manx language is clearly enjoying a revival, although it nearly died out in the 20th century.

--Vacationing readers, Britain

Become a regular reader of NEWS & LETTERS as we start our second 50 years...

Still just $5 for one year (6 Issues)...

To order, click here.

Return to top

Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search

Subscribe to News & Letters

Published by News and Letters Committees
Designed and maintained by  Internet Horizons