tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31128690395907107602024-03-05T04:43:06.618+00:00Leninism 2.0AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-78639100377921668402010-05-26T21:39:00.005+01:002010-05-27T18:00:17.075+01:00الطبقة العاملة وثورة المعلومات<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/4547114300/" title="الطبقة العاملة وثورة المعلومات by 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4547114300_25bc501181.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="الطبقة العاملة وثورة المعلومات" /></a><br /><br />عبد القادر ندا، الأمين العام للنقابة المستقلة للضرائب العقارية يجرب خدمة تويترUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-30220985621844513012009-10-29T20:24:00.001+00:002009-10-29T20:24:15.391+00:00Joe Glenton - Serving soldier defies orders to speak out on Afghan war<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/TYtlR9F5Ilo' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/TYtlR9F5Ilo'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-25315836573318244322009-10-23T09:57:00.001+01:002009-10-23T09:57:36.628+01:00Protest against BNP Leader Nick Griffin on BBC Question Time 24 Oct 2009<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/VAgNWEzlA4w' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/VAgNWEzlA4w'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-56784432452674225472009-10-17T16:16:00.001+01:002009-10-17T16:16:01.676+01:00Superflex / The Financial Crisis: Session 4 - Old Friends<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/weoy3xGflBw' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/weoy3xGflBw'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-16160555015959650592009-10-17T15:56:00.001+01:002009-10-17T15:56:14.618+01:00Superflex / The Financial Crisis: Session 3 - You<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/G7CuLeHdfvM' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/G7CuLeHdfvM'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-578935816990426692009-10-17T15:54:00.001+01:002009-10-17T15:54:09.443+01:00Superflex / The Financial Crisis: Session 2 - George Soros<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/yVPXkZ3i_Do' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/yVPXkZ3i_Do'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-79920652764228969572009-10-17T15:53:00.001+01:002009-10-17T15:53:49.566+01:00Superflex / The Financial Crisis: Session 1 - The Invisible Hand<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/HthRzCvT-dA' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/HthRzCvT-dA'/></object></p><p>The Financial Crisis (Session I-V) is a new film work in which SUPERFLEX address the financial crisis and meltdown from a therapeutic perspective. A hypnotist guides us through our worst nightmares to reveal the crisis without as the psychosis within. During 4 sessions you will experience the fascination of speculation and power, fear, anxiety and frustration of loosing control, economic loss and personal disaster.<br /><br />Session 1 - The Invisible Hand<br />Session 2 - George Soros<br />Session 3 - You<br />Session 4 - Old Friends<br /></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-34251924892351530962009-09-29T09:28:00.003+01:002009-09-29T09:28:34.872+01:00Mutiny - Money on Trial: Music and the Market<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/hxNbHvHx2X8' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/hxNbHvHx2X8'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-74597818270675466052009-09-29T09:28:00.001+01:002009-09-29T09:28:14.838+01:00Mutiny - Green Money on Trial<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/HFWFcCJhNR0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/HFWFcCJhNR0'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-40653831053796916252009-09-29T09:27:00.001+01:002009-09-29T09:27:39.966+01:00Rage Against New Labour - Labour Conference Party Brighton 27 Sept 2009<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/CXmCmSbJQZI' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/CXmCmSbJQZI'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-4034360210340746522009-08-31T21:00:00.001+01:002009-08-31T21:00:58.820+01:00public enemy - burn hollywood burn<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/k6MlwT1lBk0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/k6MlwT1lBk0'/></object></p><p>innit</p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-77302828033399043792009-08-30T22:50:00.013+01:002009-08-30T23:29:12.802+01:00Gramsci: The Idea of L'Ordine Nuovo<blockquote><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XLE8h_YWkcm6n5g-d18MwBs3ZlgCiZRBzNSVPqGajPV6R7dlH78Hu_9DQ0nsnXTahFQ_d1aBj7797ODKY3F3Ka2fyz1j7CQoaFzcvBdxVdrhnbt46I-Z6PFymjV3GYb8Eh_FC8oFf_48/s320/gramsci.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375882244078603362" border="0" />"The workers loved <a href="http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=2262"><strong>L'Ordine Nuovo</strong></a> (this we can state with inner satisfaction) and why did they love it? Because they felt its articles were pervaded by that same spirit of inner searching that they experienced: "How can we become free? How can we become ourselves?" Because its articles were not cold, intellectual structures, but sprang from our discussions with the best workers: they elaborated the actual sentiments, goals and passions of the Turin working class, that we ourselves had provoked and tested. Because its articles were virtually a "taking note" of actual events, seen as moments of a process of inner liberation and self-expression on the part of the working class. This is why the workers loved <strong>L'Ordine Nuovo</strong> and how its <em>idea</em> came to be 'formed'."</blockquote><cite style="font-size: 80%;"> Antonio Gramsci, August 1920, <em>Selections from Political Writings (1910 - 1920)</em>, Lawrence and Wishart, London 1977</cite>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-34166414619021313242009-08-30T18:08:00.008+01:002009-08-30T18:32:01.805+01:00Scientific knowledge and communism<p>Whilst reading Lawrence Lessig's great book <em>The Future of Ideas - The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World</em>, I came across this little gem in the footnotes:<br /></p><blockquote>"Communism" in the nontechnical and extended sense of common ownership of goods, is a second integral element of the scientific ethos. The substantive findings of science are a product of social collaboration and are assigned to the community. They constitute a common heritage in which the equity of the individual producer is severely limited. An eponymous law or theory does not enter into the exclusive possession of the discoverer and his heirs, nor do the mores bestow upon them special rights of use and disposition. Property rights in science are whittled down to a bare minimum by the rationale of the scientific ethic. Scientists' claims to "their" intellectual "property" are limited to those of recognition and esteem which, if the institution functions with a modicum of efficiency, are roughly commensurate with the significance of the increments brought to the common fund of knowledge. Eponymy - for example, the Copernican system, Boyle's law - is thus at once a mnemonic and a commemorative device.<br /></blockquote><cite>Robert K. Merton<br /><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-sa0ZBWLNj4C&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=Merton+communism&source=bl&ots=LJ_Dt5p363&sig=vXq-jUsb3BAhL-VIlX1V3VNhMVE&hl=en&ei=Q62aStPjJNvLjAen_pGxBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=Merton%20communism&f=false">On Social Structure and Science</a></cite><br /><br />The issue of copyright is something that comes up again and again - today for instance in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/30/google-library-project-books-settlement">The Observer's article on Google's plan for a digital library</a>.<br />I think socialists should oppose the commodification of knowledge and culture as an obstacle to progress and creativity.<br /><blockquote>"At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or — what is but a legal expression for the same thing — with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters."<br /></blockquote><cite><a href="http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface-abs.htm">Karl Marx, Preface of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy</a></cite><br /><br />Isn't the growing extension of copyright law a case of "the forms of development of the productive forces turning into fetters"?<p></p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-26069158190395015822009-08-23T06:37:00.005+01:002009-08-23T07:00:57.416+01:00A short history of Organising resistance using New ToolsAs development of the recent post by <a href="http://luna17activist.blogspot.com/2009/08/tweeting-trotsky.html">Luna17</a> I list below an incomplete and overly short summary of some of the political upheavals where mobile phones and online means have been used to organise protest:<br /><br /><h3>1999 - US - protests surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle.</h3><br /><br /> "The first real breakthrough in using cell phones for advocacy came in organizing demonstrations, although the phones still served as glorified walkie-talkies. If even a handful of people involved in a demonstration had cell phones, information could be passed very efficiently from the leaders to the demonstrators, and vice versa.<br /><br /> One of the most widely reported examples of this use was the series of protests surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle. The mostly young protesters were part of the country's most plugged-in demographic, and many of them had brought their cell phones to the protest with them. The phones were used to coordinate demonstrations, and because a critical threshold of participants had cell phones, demonstrators could react to changes in the protest plan with astonishing quickness. These protests also showed a more subversive side of using cell phones for organizing - their relative privacy. Police were not able to listen in on conversations between protest leaders and protesters on the streets, which meant protesters, were able to avoid police. Protesters were also able to speak to the press while in the thick of the protests, and if needed, call their lawyers.<br /><br /> This is not to say that cell phones were the answer to all logistical problems in demonstrations. The main problem with using cell phones solely as mobile telephones is a severe limit on the number of people that can communicate at once. Most of the time, one person has to call another person, who then calls a third person, not unlike the phone trees that organizers have been using seemingly since the beginning of time. Even the briefest exchange still takes a relatively long time, especially when compared to a brief email or instant message. This began to change with the increasing use of non-voice cellular phone tools, such as text messaging" <cite>Showcase Groups: Using Cell Phones in Advocacy<br /> <a href="http://www.npaction.org/article/articleprint/607/-1/%7Bcategory_id%7D/ ">http://www.npaction.org/article/articleprint/607/-1/%7Bcategory_id%7D/ </a> </cite> <br /><br /><h3>2001 - Philipines anti-Estrada protests</h3><br /><br /> Over a million people gathered to protest against the corrupt government of Joseph Estrada in favor of the presidency of Gloria Arroyo, the current president. The instant communication and organization enabled by the use of SMS played an important role in the success of the demonstration. Some even joked that the peaceful revolution was a "coup de text," referring to the instrumental role that SMS played in the ouster of Estrada.<br /><cite>Mobile Phones in Mass Organizing: A Mobile - Active White Paper<br /> by Corinne Ramey, edited by Katrin Verclas<br /> <a href="http://mobileactive.org/mobiles-in-mass-organizing ">http://mobileactive.org/mobiles-in-mass-organizing </a> </cite><br /> <br /><h3>2004 - Spain protests against Aznar on the eve of election, leading to defeat for government previously leading in the polls</h3><br /><br /> "The Spanish general election of 2004 occurred in the wake of an unprecedented terrorist attack, but its outcome reflects the potential that mobile phones have to provide the user with independent information and bring about voter mobilisation.<br /><br /> The impression – whether true or not – that the government was withholding information about the attack outraged a small number of voters who, empowered with mobile phones, sent text messages (known as SMS), resulting in unprecedented flash demonstrations on election day eve. Traditional media outlets contributed further to a growing chorus of citizens who felt misled.<br /><br /> Those who tend not to vote, young voters and new voters, were galvanised to go to the polls, and they disproportionately favoured the opposition party.<br /><br /> While it is too early to determine the political effects of mobile phone diffusion, the events in Spain suggest that mobile technology may come to play an important role in political participation and democracy.<br /><cite>"MOBILE DEMOCRACY: TEXT MESSAGES,<br /> VOTER TURNOUT AND THE 2004<br /> SPANISH GENERAL ELECTION,<br /> Sandra L. Suárez<br /> <a href="http://www.temple.edu/polsci/suarez/documents/MobileDemocracy2006.pdf">http://www.temple.edu/polsci/suarez/documents/MobileDemocracy2006.pdf</a> </cite> <br /><br /><h3>2004 - Orange revolution in Ukraine</h3><br /><br /> The court-ordered election rematch in Ukraine featuring opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, probably would not have happened were it not for mobile phone technologies.<br /><br /> The technologies - text messaging services in particular - enabled hundreds of thousands of youthful demonstrators to coordinate their activities and take to the streets of Kiev to contest the November election results, experts told UPI's Wireless World.<cite>Wireless World: The 'Orange Revolution'<br /> Dec 27, 2004<br /> <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/news/internet-04zzzzw.html">http://www.spacedaily.com/news/internet-04zzzzw.html</a></cite> <br /><br /><h3>2006 - California protests against the proposed anti-immigration law, HR 4437, organised via MySpace</h3><br /><br /> "In California's largest public school district, more than 100,000 students - one-quarter of the middle school and high school population - boycotted class on the May 1 "day without immigrants."...Many students got involved through MySpace.com, a social networking website that lets people link to friends and create profiles with photos and music. With 70 million members, most of whom are teenagers, it is one of the top ten most popular destinations on the Internet.<br /><br /> Students were already communicating about their lives through MySpace, so when immigration became a hot issue, why not that too? Sprinkled through the website's millions of pages, comments cropped up about the protests, the national boycott and how students felt about Congress trying to criminalize their parents' existence.<br /><br /> The Dallas Morning News reported that the pro-immigration rallies may be "the largest political gathering organized on [MySpace].<br /><cite>"MySpace, MyPolitics<br /> Ari Melber<br /> May 30, 2006<br /> <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060612/melber ">http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060612/melber </a> </cite> <br /><br /><h3>2007 Xiamen, China</h3><br />On May 31, 2007, authorities in Xiamen halted construction of a large petro-chemical plant, following a furious Internet, street, and text campaign. The story began on a few local blogs, spread wide on the Internet with sites like antipx.com, and street graffiti. <br /><br /> "A stand-off over a potentially dangerous chemical plant ended Friday in the center of Xiamen after thousands of protesters energized by widespread SMS text messages repeatedly charged police lines and the police backed down, letting the marchers through.<br /><br /> Even in China, where authorities spend huge amounts of time and effort to monitor and block Internet traffic, the Xiamen protest illustrates the explosive power of the online and texting community and the inability of authorities to choke it off. <br /><br /> By Friday afternoon, the Internet had exploded with photos, videos and live updates on such social websites as Twitter, Flickr, Tudou and countless blogs and forums. The revolution may not be televised, but it will most certainly be blogged." <cite>SMS Texts Energize a Chinese Protest<br /> Asia Sentinel<br /> Friday, 01 June 2007<br /> <a href="http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=520&Itemid=31">http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=520&Itemid=31</a></cite> <br /><br /><br /><h3>2007 Pakistan</h3><br />In Pakistan, an anti-Musharraf ringtone and thousands of mobile text messages were used to organize protests after the Pakistani prime minister dismissed the country's Chief Justice on May 9. Subsequent mass protests resulted in additinal stringent media restrictions. According to dnaindia.com,<br /><br /> "Musharraf has of late ratified stringent measures to curtail media freedom. He did not realise, however, that dissent would find an outlet in Pakistan’s growing cellphone subscriber base. A massive campaign against Musharraf has been launched recently by the general public on cellphones. <br /><br /> The ‘Go Musharraf Go’ ring tone is resounding in Pakistan these days, mostly on the phones of those using the services of Mobilink. A senior Mobilink official in Islamabad, who did not want to reveal his identity, said that the number of anti-Musharraf text messages being sent and received every day runs into millions. The ‘Go Musharraf’ tone — recorded from chants of real-life protests — has been embraced by lawyers and opposition activists. But the public is just as thrilled with the insurgent trill. <br /><br /> As for the dictator-dissing messages, a typical SMS asks: “Who will be saved if a boat carrying Musharraf and his Corps Commanders sinks?” The answer turns out to be ‘Pakistan’.<br /><cite>quoted in 'Speed of Wordwide SMS Campaigns Quickening, As Is Backlash'<br /> <a href=" http://mobileactive.org/speed-wordwide-sms-campaigns-quickening-backlash"> http://mobileactive.org/speed-wordwide-sms-campaigns-quickening-backlash</a> </cite> <br /><br /><h3>2008 Kashmir protetsts</h3><br /><br /> As the mainly Muslim Kashmir valley erupted into protests last month after a row over transfer of land in the region snowballed into a movement for freedom from India, armies of mobile-phone toting youngsters began trawling the city to record the events.<br /><br /> The images and recordings of those momentous events have been swapped between friends, or put up on popular video sharing sites.<br /><br /> One of those, YouTube, spits out nearly 250 results when a search is done for "Srinagar protest" and many of these clips have been put up by youngsters from the valley.<br /><br /> There are now mobile phone recordings being swapped around which have reached almost cult status.<br /><br /> A pro-freedom procession, security forces thrashing children playing in a city park, a friend or a neighbour shot down during a protest, a funeral procession.<br /><br /> In a way, the images and clips comprise an uneven chronicle of the troubled life and times in the valley by these "citizen journalists" of Kashmir.<br /><br /> "This is a new trend in Kashmir. There are a lot of young people moving around the city with such mobile phone recordings," says Amjad Mir of Sen TV, a local news and current affairs channel. <br /><cite>Kashmir's mobile phone chroniclers<br /> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7618092.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7618092.stm</a></cite> <br /><br /><h3>2008 South Korea</h3><br /><br /> Popular anger gradually built and then on 19 April, when Lee travelled to the US and made an agreement with Bush to allow imports of American beef, this anger exploded. This agreement drastically eased the regulations dealing with the risk of beef infected with BSE. At first the protests against this agreement centred around internet communities. An online petition set up by a high school student attracted more than a million signatures in no time.<br /><br /> In the early stages of the candlelight protests the active participation of young people was particularly noticeable and this reflected their anger against Lee Myung-bak’s education privatisation plans. Middle and high school education in Korea is extremely oppressive and there is intense competition to do well in university entrance exams. However, the Lee government’s plans to destroy public eduction would clearly drive young people into even more oppressive conditions. One of the slogans that the young people brought to the demonstrations was “Let’s eat a little, let’s sleep a little”. It’s a slogan that shows clearly the sort of position they are in where they have to go to school before dawn and then study at cram schools until late in the evening.<br /><br /> This anger and sense of crisis exploded into the open in the candlelight demonstrations. On the first day the sight of 20,000 people filling the streets was a real shock. On that day everyone was surprised at the scale and the confidence of the demonstration: the internet-based group that had called the demo, the participants themselves and the police.<br /><cite>ISJ 120<br /> <a href="http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=480&issue=120">http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=480&issue=120</a></cite> <br /><br /><h3>2008 Egypt</h3><br /><br /> "Today the most effective political Web site would be YouTube. With the pervasiveness of mobile phone cameras, it is rare to hear of a human rights violation, a political event or a major incident that isn't accompanied with a mobile phone video published on YouTube.<br /><br /> Videos documenting police brutality in the streets and leaked videos of torture inside police stations published on YouTube were at the core of a strong anti-torture campaign and were effectively used as evidence in court. For the first time in Egyptian history, a powerful, well-connected police officer was sentenced for torturing a poor citizen. There are currently various similar cases, all centered around leaked video evidence. We now know that these videos had already reached several journalists, but they didn't dare broadcast them.<br /><br /> Most recently, when the industrial town of Mahalla was under press embargo as Egyptian security forces stormed town in an attempt to break an industrial strike and a political protest by force, killing at least three citizens and injuring dozens (not to mention the arrests), I counted over 60 videos of street violence in Mahalla published on YouTube. While some of the footage made it onto al-Jazeera and the BBC, the video of angry protesters tearing down a huge poster of president Mubarak can only be seen on YouTube."In Egypt, YouTube Trumps Facebook<br /> <cite>Posted by Alaa Abd El Fattah on May 29, 2008 12:52 PM<br /> <a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2008/05/in_egypt_youtube_trumps_facebo.html ">http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2008/05/in_egypt_youtube_trumps_facebo.html </a></cite>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-40096365324568947042009-08-08T21:39:00.002+01:002009-08-08T21:40:05.232+01:00Raymond Williams on Technology & Society<iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="border:0px" src="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9XYfPRBR3awC&lpg=PP1&ots=bfx-QrvBSg&dq=Raymond%20williams%20on%20television&pg=PA1&output=embed" width=500 height=900></iframe>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-21740822656233415162009-07-21T09:46:00.003+01:002009-07-21T09:56:39.398+01:00Gramsci on Web 2.0<blockquote>The term "spontaneity" can be variously defined, for the phenomenon to which it refers is many sided. Meanwhile it must be stressed that "pure" spontaneity does not exist in history: it would come to the same thing as "pure" mechanicity. In the "most spontaneous" movement it is simply the case that the elements of "conscious leadership" cannot be checked, have left no reliable document. It may be said that spontaneity is therefore characteristic of the "history of the subaltern classes", and indeed of their most marginal and peripheral elements; these have not achieved any consciousness of the class "for itself", and consequently it never occurs to them that their history might have some possible importance, that there might be some value in leaving documentary evidence of it.</blockquote><br /><br /><cite>Gramsci, "The Modern Prince" Spontaneity and Conscious Leadership (page 196 of selections from Prison Notebooks, Lawrence & Wishart)</cite><br /><br />For Gramsci the act of writing about struggle by the participants is central to the formation of class consciousness.<br /><br />This has implications for the role of the revolutionary publication. It means that a publication is not just vital as a propagandist, agitator and organiser (as Lenin describes in What is to be done?) but actually plays a central role in the formation of the class "for itself".<br /><br />By writing about their day to day struggles workers connect those struggles with a sense of history. What lies behind documenting your struggles is the understanding that in the future others will learn from them, that your struggle is part of an unbroken thread of resistance stretching back in history and reaching forward into the future.<br /><br />Once workers think about their struggles in this manner they transcend the immediate demands around which the struggle is fought and connect it with the historical mission of the working class to reshape society in its own interests.<br /><br />A strike over wages ceases simply to be about the immediate economic interests of the workers involved but instead becomes part of a bigger picture - and in doing so ceases to be an act of "spontaneity" but an act of conscious leadership.<br /><br />The unavoidable consequence of this is the next step - the joining together of those that see the struggle in this conscious manner in an organisation that seeks to shape this struggle via collective leadership - a party. This is the way that the publication acts as a scaffolding around which an revolutionary party is created.<br /><br />The implications for the revolutionary publication and the network of agents that create it is that their role is to encourage and develop this process of documentation of struggle and by doing so they directly assist in the formation of class consciousness.<br /><br />The centrality of creating an organ that is not just read by workers but written by them lies in this fact. Any organ that does not develop a network of workers who write about, film or photograph their own struggles as a central part of the project will not succeed as a revolutionary publication.<br /><br />Therefore the possibilities offered by the new technologies of the web, the ease with which non specialists can publish online affords new possiblities for revolutionaries to develop class consciousness and consequently presents us with the challenge of developing new models that radically break with those of the present. In doing so the online publication will radically reshape the paper publication and the organisation that creates it.<br /><br /><blockquote>"As it is, the paper is divided among various writers, each of whom is very good, but collectively they do not permit workers to penetrate to the pages of the Appeal. Each of them speaks for the workers (and speaks very well) but nobody will hear the workers. In spite of its literary brilliance, to a certain degree the paper becomes a victim of journalistic routine. You do not hear at all how the workers live, fight, clash with the police or drink whiskey. It is very dangerous for the paper as a revolutionary instrument of the party. The task is not to make a paper through the joint forces of a skilled editorial board but to encourage the workers to speak for themselves. <span style="font-weight: bold;">A radical and courageous change is necessary as a condition of success ...</span><br /></blockquote><br /><cite>Trotsky, quoted in Tony Cliff - The use of Socialist Worker as an organiser (April 1974)</cite>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-61365352321978728712009-07-20T08:13:00.002+01:002009-07-20T08:16:49.266+01:00Afghanistan - the Iraq Syndrome<p><strong>A shortage of helicopters has been blamed for the deaths of UK troops in Afghanistan. But the real problem is not lack of equipment but lack of support for the war amongst both Afghans and the British public.</strong></p><p>Despite their huge number of Chinook helicopters the United States too is suffering an increased casualty rate - about three a day in July. This is approaching some of the highest levels of the Iraq war.</p> <p>The Taliban have the capacity to shoot down helicopters - six Ukrainian civilians and a 6-year-old Afghan were killed when an <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090715/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan">Mi-6 transport helicopter was shot down on Tuesday</a>. </p> <p>The call for more helicopters also ignores the fact the the two greatest single losses of UK forces lives in Iraq and Afghanistan were in aircraft - the Hercules crash in Iraq in 2005 and the Nimrod crash in Afghanistan in 2006.</p> <p>Fundamentally occupation requires "boots on the ground". As <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090715/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan">Gen. Richard Dannatt said recently</a>:</p> <blockquote>"I have said before, we can have effect where we have boots on the ground. I don't mind whether the feet in those boots are British, American or Afghan. But we need more, to have the persistent effect to give the people confidence in us...That is the top line and the bottom line."</blockquote> <p>Unavoidably more "boots on the ground" means more casualties amongst occupying troops.</p> <p>The alternative - greater use of air power - means more civilian casualties, more civilian casualties translates into more support for the Afghan resistance which in turn leads to more casualties for occupying troops.</p> <p>There is however a great deal of genuine discontent in the armed forces over equipment.</p> <p>A <a href="http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0506/recruitment_and_retention_in_t.aspx">National Audit Office report into Recruitment and Retention in the Armed forces</a> published in November 2006 showed that almost 50% of key personnel leaving the services cited the "Quality of equipment" as a reason for leaving.</p> <p>Over the last five years there have been a number of high profile cases where poor equipment and training have led to the deaths of British armed forces personnel. An article in the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-cruellest-sacrifice-revealed-88-casualties-of-mods-failures-399905.html">Independent on Sunday in November 2007</a> revealed that of 254 deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan 88 were due to equipment failure or neglect. But spending an extra £4 billion on helicopters and other equipment will not solve the underlying problem for the British Military.</p> <p>The major problem faced by the British armed forces in Afghanistan is political in origin.</p> <p>Political opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has led to a critical and growing shortage of highly skilled specialist personnel.</p> <p>The war machine needs highly skilled workers to keep it going. They provide the underlying technical basis to the military advantage over the Taliban. A shortage of skilled staff undermines this advantage and levels the field. This erosion of military superiority leads to increased casualty levels.</p> <p>According to the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmdfence/424/42402.htm">House of Commons Defence Committee Fourteenth Report</a>:</p> <blockquote>"Each Service has a number of trades which are substantially undermanned. These trades are classed as pinchpoints and represent serious manning shortfalls in the Armed Forces. The MoD defines pinchpoints as trades or areas of expertise where there is not enough trained strength to perform operational tasks without encroaching on the time provided between deployments for recuperation, training and leave...<br /><br /> We are disappointed to note that between 2004 and 2008, the number of pinchpoint trades have increased across all Services. In the Army pinchpoint trades have increased by 15.4%, in the RAF by 63%, and in the Naval Service by 150% so that there are now 30 pinchpoint trades in the Army, 31 in the RAF and 25 in the Naval Service."</blockquote> <p>These pinchpoints are caused by a greater outflow of existing members compared to recruits. And because of the nature of the grades involved it is not simply enough to boost the numbers of young recruits. Skilled personnel need to be trained for much longer than combat forces and cannot be deployed until trained.</p> <p>The result of insufficient personnel in key grades leads to these personnel being deployed more often and for longer - referred to in military jargon as "Exceeding their individual Harmony Guidelines"</p> <blockquote>"<a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmdfence/424/42405.htm#a12">Harmony Guidelines</a> are designed to ensure harmony between competing aspects of Service personnel's lives: operations, time recuperating after operations, personal and professional development, unit formation and time with families."</blockquote> <p>The National Audit Office report into Recruitment and Retention in the Armed forces indicates that over 40% of Vehicle Mechanics, over 35% Armourers and over 30% of Recovery Mechanics and Accident & Emergeny Nurses exceeded their individual harmony guidelines.</p> <p>The same report studied the reasons personnel in key pinchpoint grades gave for leaving the service:<br /> </p><ul style="list-style-type: disc; padding: 0px 18px 0px 18px;"> <li> 70% said it was due to "Inability to plan life outside work"</li> <li> 60% mentioned "Impact of Service life on family life"</li> <li> Over 40% stated "Pressure from family"</li> <li> 37% said "Too many deployments".</li> </ul> <p>This is a vicious circle. As the numbers leaving due to exceeding their "Harmony Guidelines" grow this increases the pressure on those that remain to exceed their "Harmony Guidelines" and thus increases the likelihood that they too will leave.</p> <p>Exceeding the Harmony Guidelines has another impact, <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmdfence/424/42405.htm#a12">highlighted by the House of Commons Defence Committee Fourteenth Report</a>:</p> <blockquote> "the Harmony Guidelines have been well constructed because the evidence suggests that if you stay within them they [Service personnel] do not suffer; if you go beyond them there is a 20-50 per cent likelihood that they will suffer in terms of PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]."</blockquote> <p>It is the determination of the British Government and its military to fight unpopular and unwinnable wars that is responsible for the growing losses in Afghanistan.</p> <p>It means that the burden of stress suffered by soldiers and their families will increase. It will mean more deaths, more serious injuries, more serious mental health problems, suicides, violence against women and family breakdowns.</p> <p>The campaign for more equipment currently being waged in the media by the British military is an attempt to divert political opposition to the human cost of war into greater expenditure on war.</p> <p>It is an attempt to use the widespread sympathy for the plight of the troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan to build support for a policy that requires they continue to fight and die in Afghanistan for many years to come.</p> <p>The same purpose lies behind the growing number of military parades. There is widespread public anger at the poor treatment of troops and their families and the lack of recognition of the sacrifices that they are making. But the Government and the Military see the parades as a way of building support for the war. They are using recognition of sacrifice as a means to ensure those sacrifices continue to be made.</p> <p>This will mean greater polarisation within society as those who make war from the safety of Whitehall try to shift the blame for the mounting losses onto those that oppose the war.</p> <p>It means more direct political intervention by the military into the political and social life of Britain because there can be no continuation of the Afghan war without a massive effort by its supporters to change the current political context to one that favours increased retention and recruitment.</p> <p>The task of the anti-war movement is to make sure that they fail. </p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-42100099866041228252009-07-19T14:49:00.001+01:002009-07-19T14:49:40.719+01:00Ni'ilin 17-7-09<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/vstLiEmtruE' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/vstLiEmtruE'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-39303434505402938452009-07-12T21:42:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:42:44.268+01:00Egypt - rise of the working class: Center for Socialist Studies: Marxism 2009<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/TKOl32MhXMY' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/TKOl32MhXMY'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-23459244998220387452009-07-12T21:42:00.001+01:002009-07-12T21:42:29.332+01:00Egypt - rise of the working class: The Independent Union of Real Estate Tax Collectors: Marxism 2009<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/xiBwNvMyVFE' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/xiBwNvMyVFE'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-25465134190486138742009-07-10T11:28:00.001+01:002009-07-10T11:28:07.468+01:00Timeline: Afghanistan: John Rees on the history of imperial intervention and resistance<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/yt14C_M7DYg' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/yt14C_M7DYg'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-16831411731522997592009-06-16T07:48:00.001+01:002009-06-16T07:48:45.868+01:00SOAS Protest at deportations of cleaning staff - June 15<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/lX120zSRRp0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/lX120zSRRp0'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-10780491768502270742009-06-15T13:35:00.001+01:002009-06-15T13:35:32.603+01:00SOAS Students Occupy Director' Office in Protest at Racist Deportations of Cleaning staff - 15 June<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/p9WoqaqLXuk' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/p9WoqaqLXuk'/></object></p><p>Raw video from the office of SOAS director as students argue with him to use his influence to secure the release of cleaning staff kidnapped by immigration police on Friday morning.<br />Press Release:<br />PRESS RELEASE: SOAS directorate block occupied over brutal deportation of SOAS cleaners<br />University cleaners who won living wage detained after dawn raid<br /><br />Students and allies at the University of London’s School of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) have occupied the university today to protest against managers’ attacks on migrant workers.<br /><br />Nine cleaners from the university were taken into detention after a dawn raid by immigration police on Friday.<br /><br />Five have already been deported, and the others could face deportation within days. One has had a suspected heart attack and was denied access to medical assistance and even water. One was over 6 months pregnant. Many have families who have no idea of their whereabouts.<br /><br />The cleaners won the London Living Wage and trade union representation after a successful “Justice for Cleaners” campaign that united workers of all backgrounds and student activists.<br />Activists believe the raid is managers’ “revenge” for the campaign.<br /><br />Immigration officers were called in by cleaning contractor ISS, even though it has employed many of the cleaners for years. Cleaning staff were told to attend an ‘emergency staff meeting’ at 6.30am on Friday (June 12).<br /><br />This was used as a false pretext to lure the cleaners into a closed space from which the immigration officers were hiding to arrest them.<br /><br />More than 40 officers were dressed in full riot gear and aggressively undertook interrogations and then escorted them to the detention centre. Neither legal representation nor union support were present due to the secrecy surrounding the action. Many were unable to communicate let alone fully understand what was taking place due to the denial of interpreters.<br /><br />SOAS management were complicit in the immigration raid by enabling the officers to hide in the meeting room beforehand and giving no warning to them.<br /><br />The cleaners were interviewed one by one. They were allowed no legal or trade union representation, or even a translator (many are native Spanish speakers).<br /><br />The cleaners are members of the Unison union at SOAS. They recently went out on strike (Thursday 28 May) to protest the sacking of cleaner and union activist Jose Stalin Bermudez.<br /><br />The occupation has issued a list of demands to SOAS management:<br /><br /> 1. We call on the directorate to request the secretary of state to immediately release the detainees and to prevent the deportation of the three cleaners who are still in detention in the UK.<br /> 2. For the directorate to release a public statement condemning what has happened to the SOAS cleaners and calling for their immediate release and return.<br /> 3. To campaign for the return of the cleaners who have already been deported.<br /> 4. To bring all contract staff in house. SOAS should not use contractors, ISS or others.<br /> 5. To keep immigration officers from entering campus under ANY circumstances or other forms of collaboration with immigration or police. Universities are for education not for state violence and oppression.<br /> 6. A year's wage as reparations for all detained and deported staff.<br /> 7. To hold accountable SOAS managers who were complicit in facilitating the raid and detention of the cleaners, refusing to aid a sick worker and a pregnant woman.<br /> 8. To reinstate Jose Stalin Bermudez, the SOAS UNISON branch chair.<br /> 9. To respect the right to organise in Trade Unions unimpeded.<br /> 10. To provide space and resources for a public meeting to build support for the SOAS 9 and other migrants, in education and beyond, affected by immigration control and racism.<br /> 11. Amnesty for all those involved.<br /><br /><br />One of the detained cleaners today stated, “We’re honest people not animals. We are just here to earn an honest living for our families. SOAS management are being unfair.”<br /><br />Joanne, one of the occupying students said,<br />“Universities should be sanctuaries: places free of violence and aggression. SOAS’s reputation as a university has been tainted today due to the complicity of state brutality in the arrest of the cleaners.”<br /><br />Graham Dyer, lecturer in Economics of Developing Countries and SOAS branch chair of lecturers’ union UCU, said:<br />“Our fight has united lecturers, staff and students and has rocked SOAS management. Those managers are now lashing out.<br /><br />“It is a disgrace that SOAS management saw fit to use a seat of learning to intimidate migrant workers. This is their underhand revenge and we will do all we can to stop migrant workers paying the price.”<br /><br />The campaign to stop the deportation is supported by Tony Benn, MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, film director Ken Loach, and many trade unionists and student activists.<br /><br />John McDonnell MP said:<br />“As living wage campaigns are building in strength, we are increasingly seeing the use of immigration statuses to attack workers fighting against poverty wages and break trade union organising.<br /><br />“The message is that they are happy to employ migrant labour on poverty wages, but if you complain they will send you back home. It is absolutely shameful.”<br /><br />Ken Loach said:<br /><br />“This raid is the action of a bully. Migrant workers are amongst the most vulnerable – poorly paid and far from home.<br /><br />“Recent action by Unison to secure better wages and conditions at SOAS was good news. Now we wonder if the SOAS cleaners are being targeted because they dared to organise as trade unionists.”<br /><br />The current occupation is a reflection of broad outrage against these actions by all sectors of society. This raid is widely seen as a continuation of current trends to remove immigrant labour and to maintain impossibly low wages.<br /><br />Cleaning contractor ISS used the same tactics against tube cleaners that went on strike with the result that key activists were deported. The use of immigration law is bering used for union busting.<br /><br />contact: Clare Solomon on 07958 034 181<br />Email: freesoascleaners@googlemail.com<br />Blog: freesoascleaners.blogspot.com</p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-56090547789719499392009-06-14T21:30:00.001+01:002009-06-14T21:30:11.064+01:00Safa 13 6 09<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/y0PWVkpv29g' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/y0PWVkpv29g'/></object></p><p>Settlers supported by IDF troops attack Palestinian farmers as they arrived with Israeli and International volunteers try to work on their fields.</p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869039590710760.post-20649361927816983362009-05-23T07:19:00.003+01:002009-05-23T07:19:25.938+01:00UK Red Shirts protest at state massacre of democracy demonstrators in Thailand<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/_tiVkC-hEFE' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/_tiVkC-hEFE'/></object></p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14498065851569728871noreply@blogger.com0