/* Written 5:37 pm Sep 24, 1993 by odin@world.std.com in igc:p.news */ /* ---------- "PNEWS ONLINE [Sept 25]" ---------- */ From: Hank Roth Subject: PNEWS ONLINE [Sept 25] PNEWS [September 25, 1993] _ _ ________|_|_________________________|_|________ | | | PNEWS ONLINE/a compilation of excerpts | | from various pnews conferences. | | There are 5 pnews conferences, P_news | | on FidoNet [2 years on the zone 1 backbone. | | Ask your sysop to get it for you.], | | pnews-L and pnews.d-L on InterNet [To | | subscribe, send request to: | | , and there is | | p.news and p.news.discuss on PeaceNet. | | [To subscribe to PeaceNet, call: | | (415) 442-0220] | |_______________________________________________| | | | | | | | | _| |__ _| |__ / |_| /| / |_| /| |~~~~~|/` |~~~~~|/` `~~~~~` `~~~~~` ".....opposing views will also be welcomed, provided.... simple guidelines are adhered to and an exchange of ideas is freely given and accepted, whereby all parties thereto--do so with mutual respect for their differing views...." These conferences provide an alternative for those who are interested in a *LEFT* perspective and "progressive" issues. The object of the conferences are to provide a cross-fertilization of "ALTERNATIVE" progressive and dissident views-------to propose and discuss new world visions, to present ideas that challenge prevailing dominant views; and to advance the cause of PEACEFUL RESOLUTION of matters that greatly concern us. The primary emphasis for the conferences shall continue to be the presentation of "progressive news, views, and occasionally some poetry." Progressive meaning that which tends to improve society, the advancement of knowledge and visions for a better future. Hank Roth, Moderator/facilitator [pnews conferences] & PNEWS ONLINE ################################################### "Too many corpses strew the paths of individualism and collectivism. Two apparently contrary rationalities cloak an identical gansterism, an identical oppression of the isolated man.... `There is no weapon of your individual will which, once appropriated by others, does not turn against you.'" [Raoul Vaneigem, THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE] ********************************** [Excerpts] W H Y S O C I A L I S M ? By Albert Einstein "..... Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an "army of unemployed" almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers' goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before...." [...] "...I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow-men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society...." ********************************** "Only the poor knew the meaning of life; the rich and the safe had to guess." Charles Bukowski (From: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN TOWN) ********************************** CLASSIFIED SECTION Wanted: a world without monopolies, without policy. Inquire of anyone in Asia, Africa, Latin America. --David Fernandez Cherician (translated by Robert Marquez) ********************************** {Excerpts from Issue #8, National Committee for Independent Political Action} [EYES WIDE OPEN AND COLOR BLIND, by David Billings] (The following are excerpts from a speech given by David Billings of the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond, at a conference at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in March) ".....My first truth is this: You can't fight racism without choosing sides. Vincent Harding, the black Mennonite theologiian, put the question to song when he asked in the Civil Rights anthem, "Whose Side Are You On?" Being anti-racist demands a lifestyle change on all our parts. Acting normal in America is to conform to racism. Racism is so ingrained, so infused throughout the institutions and societal behavior patterns of our nation that to be anti-racist in Ameria is to be a deviant--it is to act abnormal. That is why John Brown is said to have been crazy--a madman. For to be anti-racist and white in this society, you have to be a little kooky...." [...] "....Racism is not prejudice. It is not bigotry or discrimination. Racism is not even hatred. These attitudes, beliefs and practics can be and are manifestations of racism. They are ways of acting out manifestations of racism. They are ways of acting out of racist ideology. But racism is something more. Racism is a structured phenomenon created and devised in the Europe of the 15th and 16th centuries to justify the economic, cultural and religious oppression of people of color-- Africans, Asians, native and indigenous peoples, and people we now call Indo-Asian or Arabs. It was created for the purpose of expropriating their resources and appropriating their lands. Racism was exported from Europe around the world as an ideological defense for greed, colonialism and cultural imperialism. Racism is NOT (and herein lies the HOPE for those who seek the Truth) endemic to all people (not even to Europeans or "white" people as we have come to prefer to call ourselves). And yes, all people can be prejudiced and hateful or downright ornery and mean. But racism has to do with the Power to carry out race prejudice, to enforce it, and to use it to control and dominate others. We will never eradicate racism until we understand what it is. Racism is a contrived and arbitrary structural arrangement that Europeans established to define status and worth on the basis of "white-skin" privilege with the state power necessary to legitimately back it up...." "....Here is the hard truth for some of us: Racism, as different from bigotry or prejudice, is a white people's problem. It has to do, not with our biology or our genetics as white people, but with our power...." [...] "....Reverse discrimination is an old racist ploy to foment dissension and division among working and unemployed people. Working people and unemployed people whould dissent, not against each other, but against an economic system that is unequal and unjust. White men are not being passed over because of negligible employment gains of white women and men and women of color. All workers in the U.S. are being passed over because of corporate policies seeking to maximize profits by exploiting the low-wage economies of other, invariably "third world" countries. Remember, the truth is what will set us free--not the lies. The lies are destroying us. We must kill racism...." ********************************** From: Trond Andresen "....We just have to find new ways to ensure the neccesary unity and ability to win and hold power for working people without ONE so-called elite party "leading" the working class. It must instead be done through alliances of different organizations. This is of course a difficult challenge. But that is the only way there is...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Nathan Newman "..... As someone who was two years old when the famous SDS split occurred, I find this ancient history interesting at some level, but know that it drives most younger activists bat-shit to have all the older generations old scores and divisions dominating discussion about where "the left" should go..." "...Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. But those who endlessly dwell on it will never see the future...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: zodiac@io.org (Zodiac) "....Dead on, Nathan. Dead fucking on. I have seen the "far Left" continually turn off youth by trying to straightjacket the youth into preconceived ideological divisions...." "....I saw it plain as day all this summer, in the anti-racist organizing the left did against the Heritage Front (Ontario's blossoming racist outfit). After close contact with Sparts and Bolshevik Tendency-ites and all the rest, a lot of these kids hate the goddamn left as much as they hate the racist right...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Maoist Intl'ist Mvmnt [Idealism and nihilism against Maoism, by MC12] ".....The system of democratic centralism, in the party and in society, is shot through with opportunities for degeneration and corruption. What isn't? Amerika had democracy and slavery simultaneously. Sweden and Norway had social democracy and imperialism simultaneously. But given that vanguard parties operating under principles of democratic centralism have so far been the only organizations to successfully lead revolutions and socialist construction, those who suggest throwing out the vanguard baby with the corrupt bathwater must shoulder the burden of proof and show that what they propose can work...." "....Maoists, on the other hand, learn from past mistakes to prevent future mistakes, and cure the disease to save the patient. That means we admit mistakes, engage in self-criticism and welcome the criticism of the masses, and then make every effort to improve on the past without sacrificing what works. We make a vanguard party that is a tool in the hands of the masses....." "....Hey, these are bleak times in some ways. But to throw out what has worked best in favor of a weak restatement of bourgeois democracy is to renounce the interest of the most oppressed in favor of a privileged view that seeks an easier road with no results. Those who have nothing to lose but their chains will sacrifice for future generations...." ".....Andresen's conclusion puts him in the proud company of generations of noble anarchists and social democrats who have say exactly this and go exactly nowhere. Meanwhile, revolutionaries have advanced, succeeded and failed, learned from mistakes and developed new theories and practices for new conditions. Revolutionaries should hold up declarations like Andresen's criticism as examples of idealism leading down the path to nihilism....." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Steve Leigh "....if anyone thinks these historical differences have no bearing on today's politics they are kidding themselves. Just to give one example:Organizing against the Heritage Front in Canada was raised.There are different strategies put forward to fight the Nazis.These strategies were originally developed in the 30's and before and tested out then and since then.In order to determine what strategy is most effective it is instructive to look back at historical successes and failures...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: GROO II ".... What happened in the past is relevant to then, not now, and history is only of a certain (or rather, uncertain) value in telling us what to do in the future. If groups of people feel happier working on instinct, then that is fine and we should still be prepared to support each other when it seems necessary....." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: tavis@cs.bu.edu (Tavis Barr) Subject: New Subjects ".... It seems that people get a lot more excited about the details of Leninism than they do about things that are going on today. I don't think that writing about new stuff obviates having those debates, but I would ask people, when they take out time to write a response, to think about what they are prioritizing...." "...It seems to me that we shouldn't discuss things about which we probably all agree, but instead should continue our bickering in a meaningful and constructive way...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Dave Edelstein "..... I would prefer to discuss what a socialist society would ("should") look like in the first decades "after the revolution"..." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: The Upper Left Corner ".... forget about a "revolution." There just isn't going be one, at least not in this country. We've already seen that the United States government is willing to shoot us at the slightest hint of a popular uprising, and the vast majority of people in the United States has been so oppressed and programmed over the last 50 years that they are incapable of embracing a popular revolution...." ".....Change is going to have to come about slowly, through a process of education and enlightenment of the young, coupled with a persistant and unrelenting pressure for economic and political reform....." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Paul Gallagher Subject: Defeatism! ".....There's little prospect for revolutionary change in the wealthy countries of the world because imperialism benefits the majority of the working classes of these countries. It's not in the immediate material self interest of the majority to end exploitation globally, since they participate in it. They might want to spread the surplus around more fairly but not change the basic structure of the world economy....." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: doctor1@cbnewse.cb.att.com (patrick.b.hailey) "....80% of those loosing property under the civil forfeiture "laws" (hah!) are never even *charged* with a crime. 80% of the property seized is worth LESS than $10,000. Hardly the playthings of the drug barons, huh?...Even when those charged with a crime are found not guilty, they don't get their property back. They still have to go through civil proceedings, sueing the government to get it back. The gov doesn't have to prove they're guilty, the victims have to prove they're innocent....Since it's a civil case, no assistance is available. If they win, they are not compensated for court costs. [...].....I just read in "The Nation" about a guy who was busted for growing marijuana. The state prosecuted, and he did a year in jail, then forgot all about it. THREE YEARS LATER, the Feds show up and put him in a federal prison FOR LIFE without parole, since growing pot is a federal crime..... The U.S. has a larger proportion of its population in prison than China. A larger proportion of its black population in prison than South Africa. The U.S. has more people in prison for drug crimes today that it had in prison for ALL crimes just ten years ago. And study after study shows that 85+% of these people have NEVER been arrested for ANY other crime. The government is packing the prisons to the rafters with peaceful, productive citizens.....Now we're hearing stories of the FDA going after alternative healthcare providors. Not quacks, but doctors teaching healthy living, or teaching people to make/grow the same drugs that the pharmeceutical companies sell for big bucks. Labs producing natural food additives. That sort of thing. They go in with guns, terrify the patients, seize records, computers, equipment, whatever, and never charge anyone with a crime - since none has been committed....." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: dwalters@igc.apc.org' [Reprinted from The Organizer 4017 24th St.#19, San Francisco, CA 94114 USA (415)583-5012 $12 for 1 Yr Subscription] {NAFTA: AN ATTACK ON THE WORKING CLASS, By SUZANNE J0NES} [...] ..."The number of New York's soup kitchens has grown from 30 to 600 since the beginning of the 1980s. Republican and Democratic officials alike know who they hurt most when they cut funds and close public institutions as part of their self-righteous "budget balancing." Most people of color cannot afford to use "better" private services; patients in public hospitals, for example, are predominately Black and Latino. In today's United States, we are witnessing the marginalization of growing masses of people of color, who are starting to take on a parallel social existence. "These underlying realities help explain the Los Angeles rebellion. Don Rojas of The Amsterdam News (a major U.S. Black newspaper) described it in an editorial: "The vast majority of Blacks, Latinos, Asians and whites who participated in the Los Angeles insurrection ... were masses of alienated and dehumanized human beings for whom the American Dream is nothing but a living nightmare; people who are jobless and hopeless, powerless and voiceless angry people marginalized and ignored by U.S. capitalism, treated as redundant producers and faceless consumers, people with no faith in a system that gave up on them a long time ago, people who can lecture the world on what it means to live under institutionalized racism." " ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: jbuck@forney.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) "....In hunter-gatherer societies, the people only work 10 hours per week or so. In subsistence agricultural societies, once enough food is put away for the winter, there's almost no work to do. Nothing but the housework, and crafts to keep people occupied....While a society in which nobody works, and manna falls from heaven, isn't feasible, a society in which people work a lot less certainly *is* feasible....All the work that needs to be done to assure every American adequate food, clothing, and shelter can be done (and arguably IS done) by about 5% of the people, working full-time. It could also presumably be done by a much larger fraction of the people working part-time...." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: eds@gvlf5-q.gvl.unisys.com (Ed Skladany) The Scene: The Republican National Convention at Houston's Astrodome The Bullshit: A wall of lies. An oppressive cloud of distortion. Vicious lies. Insidious lies. A conspiracy of lies not seen since Joseph Goebbels so effectively used his vision of The Big Lie. Lies so offensive to people who strive for the truth that it makes one want to buy an NRA-sanctioned AK-47 and massacre every Republican leader he can find. While listening to one lie after another, I hear the echo of George Bush in my head: "I will do whatever it takes to get reelected." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Hank Roth "....Plato declared that as to what we are, we are beings "in search of meaning." And while all this disputation "in search of meaning" is going on between us, as Leftists, a liberal president is attempting to prove that `might is right.'...." "...... We wish to discuss and exchange alternative views, but not right wing views. There is nothing to learn from bigots, McCarthyites, and fascists that we don't already know. They demonstrate their intent with their anti-People diatribes and attempt at intimidation..." ".....the left wing is constantly in psychoanalysis, figuratively speaking. Every current, every Internationale, every vanguardist group is critical of each other. But one thing they almost all have in common is their opposition to the right...." ############################################### The objective of these conferences is to provide a cross- fertilization of ALTERNATIVE "PROGRESSIVE" views, to present positions that challenge prevailing views; and to advance the cause of PEACEFUL (when possible) RESOLUTION of matters that greatly concern us, ergo: Economic and Social Justice; and the utilization of CONFRONTATIONAL POLITICS to vehemently oppose chauvinism, sexism, gay bashing, racism, antisemitism, etc. We discuss a myriad of issues in an effort to provide better understanding for root causes and agendas around these issues. ############################################### RICH MAN'S LIES Pieces of grave granite hanging like fossilized stone bodies stacked for burning in winter stoves, huddled over grates to keep warm. Black man walking in white man's shoes thinking conservative thoughts, brainwashed by rich man's lies. Self hating turn about look at the light. cramed overflowing into cities, traped hate crime big time. Afrocentricity & white supremacy madness Tribal loyalties & racist demagoguery Lunatic fringe polarized black and white Black man says what white man thinks: "Lock them all up and throw out the welfare mothers." ----------by Dubatandum----------- ############################################### "Liberty is but an empty illusion as long as one class can let the others starve. Equality is but an empty illusion as long as the rich ... decides over life and death of his fellowmen." (1793) [Jacque Roux however.] ############################################### odin@world.std.com pnews@igc.apc.org. (On Fidonets at 151/101) ###################################################