The Weimar Scenario

Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America

By Matthew Rothschild, April 12, 2010

Chomsky: “The financial industry preferred Obama to McCain... They expected to be rewarded and they were."

The president recently described bankers as “fine guys” and assured the business world: "I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system."

This type of deference to the financial community alienates working class Americans - and fuels the outrage directed at Washington.

Chomsky said “the colossal toll of the institutional crimes of state capitalism [such as the recent health care bill - BWH's comment]” is what is fueling “the indignation and rage of those cast aside.”

“People want some answers,” Chomsky said. “They are hearing answers from only one place: Fox, talk radio, and Sarah Palin.”

Chomsky invoked Germany during the Weimar Republic, and drew a parallel between it and the United States. “The Weimar Republic was the peak of Western civilization and was regarded as a model of democracy,” he said.

My thought: Obama does not stand between us and the forces of reaction. On the contrary, it is precisely the failure of his policy initiatives to address contemporary social realities - actual human suffering and economic uncertainty - which engenders that rage. As social conditions deteriorate so goes the political discourse.

In the end, he'll be overwealmed by the forces that he lacks the courage and conviction to confront directly.

Marijuana: Boom and Bust

Someday I'll write a Marxian analysis of the marijuana industry of Mendocino County. When I first started thinking about the project I was conceiving it as a kind of romantic tale of "social banditry" al al Eric Hobsbawm (Primitive Rebels, 1965). But it may turn out to be more of a boom and bust tragedy - not so unlike other tales of agricultural communities ravaged by the boom and bust nature of the capitialist business cylcle.

Here are a couple recent reports.

The California Report: The Changing Economics of Pot

Andrew Cockburn, Marijuana Boom and Bust

Bolivian Army Intelligence

I recently watched Steven Soderbergh's two part epic "Che: The Argentine and Guerilla." Benicio del Toro is absolutely fantastic as Che and the cinematography and screenplay are outstanding. A modern masterpiece in my humble view. It may not be an overstatment to say that it belings in the same category as The Battle of Algiers.

Here is a good review of the film.

Bolivian Army displaying the slain body of Che Guevara




Rather than achieving a psychological advantage by displaying these images, which were actually captured by a CIA photographer, The Bolivian Army's display of Guevara's body in October 1967 led some observers to note a certain similarity between that image and Andrea Mantega, Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1480). The legend of Che, has of course, only grown since his capture and execution by Bolivian forces in combination with US intelligence and Special Forcess.



Here is a nice collection of documents from GWU's NSA on US efforts to capture Che.

Indifferent to Difference in Juarez

Charles Bowden is indifferent to Difference

AMY GOODMAN: Charles Bowden, how does this relate to the hundreds of women who have been murdered in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua over the last, oh, fifteen years? We’re talking nearly 500 or more.

CHARLES BOWDEN: Well, we’re talking nearly 500 in a fifteen-year period in a city that had a million and a half. Here’s how it relates. Essentially, none of those crimes have never been solved. During that same period, 95—between 90 and 95 percent of the murders have been males. None of those crimes have been solved. Last year, of those 2,600-plus murders in Juárez, there were thirty arrests. Not solutions, just arrests. The way they figure in is, if you’re a Mexican citizen, anybody can kill you, and nothing’s going to happen to them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a child, a man or a woman, that their justice system is broken. I can understand, because of the sort of cause célèbre quality while people are focused on the dead women, but I think we ought to focus on the dead human beings. This city kills people, and nothing happens to the killers.

Poverty, Privilege and Health Care Reform

The Empathy Problem

By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO

"As recent public opinion polls demonstrate, those who pay closer attention to the media’s reporting on the health care debate in Congress are not only more likely to be confused about the specific reforms being proposed, they’re also more likely to oppose the health care reform (see the Pew Research Center health care surveys from July 2009, September 2009, and March 2010)."

Juan Cole on Robert Gates in Afghanistan:

"Gates accused Iran of ... secretly giving aid to the Taliban. ... Gates's allegation of substantial Iranian support for the hyper-Sunni Shiite-killing Taliban is implausible on the face of it, and makes Gates look silly in regional eyes."

BDS Israel

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction

By Naomi Klein

January 7, 2009

Joel Beinin on BDS:

The tactic of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) has much to recommend it as a strategy for confronting the consolidation of Israeli apartheid. Aside from its positive association with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, it is undeniably a non-violent tactic that can be used by large numbers of people and adapted to many different situations. The Palestinian people certainly have every right to choose whatever method they decide is most effective to achieve their national rights,

It is precisely the flexibility of the BDS campaign that has aroused concern among some who have long supported Palestinian rights. The original 2005 call for BDS advocates applying these measures until Israel recognizes the Palestinian right to self- determination and complies with international law by

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

These goals leave open the question: Is BDS directed against the occupation? Or is BDS directed against the existence of the state of Israel (because, in fact, the entire state is built on occupied and colonized lands)? Some, who either do not care about this distinction or who express their political activism in intentionally provocative ways, may actually be weakening the BDS movement. It is impossible and undemocratic to suppress any of the voices in the emerging BDS movement. Mass movements usually contain many currents of opinion (as was the case in both the anti-apartheid struggle and the US Black freedom movement), and this is entirely legitimate. The best way to ensure that BDS is seen as a reasonable and effective strategy is if those who have carefully explained their approach to BDS (Neve Gordon or John Greyson or Udi Aloni’s very carefully argued statements) emerge as the dominant force in the movement. The renowned author, John Berger, initiated a practice of specifying carefully what he did and did not mean by a cultural boycott in the letter he appended to the December 2005 statement of 94 authors, film-makers and others who advocated a cultural boycott of Israel. Naomi Klein has said that her own approach to the cultural boycott was influenced by John Berger.

One thing we should be clear about: BDS will not disrupt the momentum for a political resolution to the conflict. There is no such momentum. There is momentum for more process. The Israeli press seems to have concluded that Obama is no longer a problem and that Bibi has outsmarted him. It’s not a question of intelligence, but rather that the Obama administration is not prepared to go as far as is necessary to compel even a full settlement freeze. But, if they had threatened to withdraw aid or even announced it was a possibility, i.e. a form of BDS, more progress might have been made. Governments will only take such measures when it is clear that there is popular support for them, and the BDS campaign is one way to establish that.

From JFJFP, Jewish Peace News "What kind of BDS campaign?"

Audio: Ali Abunimah & Jeff Blankfort Challenge Noam Chomsky's opposition to boycotting Israel