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Saturday, November 15, 2014

Weekend News in Mid November 2014

There can be no discussion about the Great Wall without understanding what happened to Eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War II. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 began a new era in history. There was the solidarity movement years earlier in Poland and mass strikes in 1988 as well. Many Soviet- style Communist regimes collapsed in Eastern Europe. One party rule ended in Hungary. The end of Soviet-style Communism spread into Bulgaria, then Czechoslovakia, and Romania. The Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was executed, which was televised. The end of the USSR came after the decline of the USSR. These events proved the collapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe was real not the proof that laissez faire capitalism is totally perfect. The reality is that a great society is when the workers are self-emancipated not when the state suppresses the rights of the people. The workers must have their democratic rights. We do know that the Eastern European states after WWII had nothing to do with popular power or democracy. It had to do with an agreement made by the U.S., the UK, and the USSR. These powers carved up Europe into distinct spheres of influence without much input from the masses of the people in Eastern Europe. Therefore, the creation of the Eastern bloc ultimately was not created by popular social revolutionary actions, but via agreements among Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. Stalin had massive power in Eastern Europe and the West allowed it to happen, because the West feared the possibility of mass, independent revolutionary movements  in those nations including France plus Italy. That is why Yalta and Potsdam (according to Hallas) disarmed many resistance movements, pushed no strike pledges in the trade unions, etc. The Big Three felt that Stalin could act as a bulwark against any independent movements of social change in Eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, the military enforced an authoritarian regime where soldiers’ councils were banned. Even the Russians in Romania used reactionary figures to ensure stability. Later, the Soviets pushed reactionaries out of government in Eastern Europe. Local communist parties ruled. Revolutionary socialists still opposed Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship too. That is why when sincere workers and activists used uprisings in East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia to try to be free, the Soviet troops came in to suppress these uprisings.


In my view, no one should use the N word. Piers Morgan ignores how tons of black people have not only condemned that word (there are plenty of black activists who abhor the N word), but are active in helping society in many ways to combat racial injustice. All black people not saying that word will never prevent a white racist from saying it either. That alone refutes Morgan's whole argument. Not saying the N word is not enough. We have to confront discrimination, economic inequality, and other evils if we want real change. Not to mention that Piers Morgan is not telling whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. to not say the N word in the same scale in how he is trying to lecture black people about it. Corporate media pundits like Morgan have some nerve to act condescending toward black people, but they ignore how the corporate media is the instrument of the establishment. The corporate media has spewed lies including propaganda for decades (from dealing with the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the run up to the Iraq War). Black people have a great intellectual curiosity to realize the viciousness of that racial slur. Many black people refuse to say that word. Fundamentally, we have to sacrifice for our freedom. I choose to ignore Kim Kardashian too. It is obvious that the integrity of black people should be defended. The bigots are jealous of the natural black African phenotype and Black is Beautiful.


RIP to the Nigerian victims of the recent suicide attack. Regardless of what some people have mentioned, there are a lot of black American people who care about black people outside of America. First, Malcolm X, Dr. King, Dr. Robert Lee (a classmate of Brother Kwame Nkrumah at Lincoln University), Dr. Lee's wife Dr. Sara Lee, WEB DuBois, and other black Americans traveled into Africa to not only congratulate newly established African nations (with Brothers and Sisters who fought colonialism), but these black Americans have worked with African nations for decades. There were African Americans who fought apartheid in South Africa for decades. There are many black Americans who have traveled into Africa all of the time as a way for them to form various economic and political connections with Africans. In fact, Ghana now is a mecca filled with a lot of African Americans. So, tons of black Americans do know and care about black people outside of the United States. We are all one people. We are all of black African descent. Now, this bombing is evil and we are in solidarity with the people of Nigeria who not only oppose Boko Haram, but who oppose Western neo-colonialism too. I don’t believe that the word feminist should be banned for free speech reasons and for the fact that ideological diversity ought to exist in any society. Also, many black women call themselves womanist and I have no issue with that. A black woman has the right to call herself a feminist, a womanist, etc. People have to allow women to be empowered and to live their own lives without authoritarian oppression. Not to mention that we, as a community, need more solidarity and more self-determination. Real unity is important. I don’t believe in unifying with reactionary extremists. I do believe in an authentic unity that focuses on establishing justice for black men, black women, and black children. It is a type of unity that rejects classism and seeks for the poor to experience economic justice (in giving the poor a living wage and pure human dignity). It is that type of focus which we need more of in this society. We live in a new era. We have witnessed the growth of the service job market while industrialization has declined in many places of America. Ideologically, we have the right to reject consumerism, materialism, and imperialism. We have to think like our ancestors thought (which is the embrace of the communal spirit and the love for the essence of community). We need to further grow the revolutionary voices of the black community, which has existed decades ago. We need not only hope, but action too. I have faith in a better future too.


There is the Detroit bankruptcy ruling. There is the official approval of the Detroit bankruptcy plan. The ruling, which the federal bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes approved, presented the Detroit bankruptcy plan as a model for the entire country. Detroit is a great American city. It is a manufacturing center. It has been shepherded by an emergency manager, its democratic rights have been violated, etc. Now, the city has to be imposed a deeply unpopular restructuring plan, which have been demanded by the banks and big bondholders. The plan is devastating to not only for the workers of Detroit, but for the poor too. The settlement attacks the pensions of 23,500 retired city workers. In violation of the state’s Constitution, which guarantees public workers’ pension benefits. Health care for these retirees has essentially been eliminated. The plan turns over the famed Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) to private foundations and hives off other publicly owned assets to the same Wall Street banks whose predatory lending schemes helped bankrupt the city. It creates the framework for escalating the shutoff of water to Detroit households that fall behind in their bill payments, an act of barbarism designed to facilitate the privatization of the water department by making it more attractive to investors. The ruling class has hardly been able to contain its enthusiasm, with the media parroting the euphoric declaration of Judge Rhodes that the implementation of the brutal austerity plan “bordered on miraculous.” The Detroit News gushed, “Detroit’s journey through bankruptcy was nothing less than a triumph,” while the Detroit Free Press declared, “With the eyes of the world fixed on its every move, Detroit has met the greatest challenge of its last half century with flying colors.” We see an unelected emergency managed installed under an anti-democratic law which was originally overturned by Michigan voters. Kevyn Orr is the Emergency Manager of Detroit. These policies negate democratic forms of rule. That is why democratic rule should be preserved regardless during good times or not. All people have inalienable rights and the government should be ruled by the people not by the oligarchs. There has been the installation of an unelected nine member Financial Review Commission. So, we have to fight for the interests of workers and the poor. The big banks have too much power over the people and we have to struggle as a means to establish genuine democracy (which means that the workers have democratic control over their own lives and destinies). There is no need for illegal, unjust wars, a vast domestic spying operation against innocent citizens, and military lockdowns on Boston including Ferguson, Missouri. We need freedom and justice without question.


We know the truth. There are many who lack courage in agreeing with neo-Confederates like Lew Rockwell and following free market fundamentalism. Some lack courage in refusing to condemn the system of white supremacy outright. Forever, I will defend workers’ rights and labor freedoms. All labor has dignity. Trickled down economics has failed and neoliberal economic policies has damaged America for decades. Neoliberal economic policies (i.e. massive privatization, slashing wages, refusal to regulate derivatives, refusal to punish criminal Wall Street bankers, bad trade deals, austerity, etc.) are evil. We know that nations with great investments in health, in education, and on protecting civil liberties PROSPER very well. In Ghana and tons of nations with universal health care, their health indicators have improved. That is not hyperbole. That is a fact. On Austrian economics: Among the other founders of Mont Pelerin Society were Otto von Hapsburg, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne; and Max von Thorn und Taxis, the Regensberg. The Mont Pelerin Society is an elitist, establishment group which promotes Austrian economics (which some people support like Wall Street and numerous multinational corporate oligarchs). Ludwig von Mises was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Von Mises’ students at New York University included Arthur Burns, who would be Federal Reserve Chairman (1970-78), and Milton Friedman. David Rockefeller himself used Friedrich Hayek as his tutor at the London School of Economics in the 1930s. Bilderberger Peter Thiel agree with reactionary economics too. He has given Ron Paul tons of money as well. Some don't want you to know these facts. Private, central banks should not control us. There should be prosecutions of criminal bankers, the restoration of Glass-Steagall, insolvent banks should be broken up, there should be the growth of more community banks, etc. Also, no one here advocates that everybody should have a college education in order for everyone to achieve a better life. People have the right to go to college or not. People are saying that the status quo doesn’t work. Independent educational solutions like smaller class sizes, improved nutrition for children, and a better assistance to parents have worked globally (as validated by study after study). Finland with ITS SOLUTIONS has worked too. Therefore, I believe in a living wage (since there can be no justice in the world totally without economic justice which black heroes have promoted from Dr. Martin Luther King to Ella Baker), ending the Western Empire, protecting human civil liberties, creating an economy (not based on debt-based money, but on debt free money) that can work, etc. which real independents believe in it. I reject imperialism too and I disagree with record Wall Street bailouts. Education is diverse not monolithic. Education can include conscious people teaching the youth about their black culture and it can involve organizations helping the youth to know about technology too. My views on economics are the same as Dr. King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others. I have condemned the policies of the Federal Reserve for years (as my words condemning the policies of the FED are shown in this site). I am a free thinking person. Not to mention that helping the environment is important as well.


By Timothy

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