alanjjohnstone
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Tim, perhaps you are unaware that we have been down this road with Cde. V. Maratty already. I have previously personally said that my approach to Cde. V Maratty was one of lack of confidence in his assurances of better conduct on the forum but now, since the Machiavellian development, a false account opened to launch an anonymous attack on the Party’s internal democracy, it is now one of trust.This is a repetition of his accusations made on a RevLeft discussion list thread in 2013 which he set up to criticise the party for permitting a "purge"of members that should be brought once more to the fore.This is what Gnome had to say about Vin’s posts at the time on that discussion list“If you'd like to know more about the SPGB and the bogus claims being made by one or two disaffected ex-members visit the party's website and its forum. Make your own judgements about this issue and the most democratic revolutionary organisation you'll ever likely to encounter…some threads have been locked because of the wanton and capricious disruption which continued for around six months taking place mostly on these sub-forums…The OP has now been banned indefinitely from posting on the forum after numerous warnings and temporary suspensions.”Gnomes’s opinion may have changed but the facts have not.While Cde. V Maratty is now citing approvingly of mcolome’s comparison of the moderators with Leninist practices, here is Cde. V. Marattys judgement of mcolome’s moderating policy.“I am permanently expelled from your SPGB forum for being 'off topic in thread' Perhaps spgb members have an explanation for this comedy duo which is typical of their forums at the moment. The moderator and 'malcom' is the same person. Who is 'disrupting' this forum? Who is challenging the integrity of members? Who is off topic? And perhaps I can give you a demonstration of the status of free speech in the SPGB by going on the forum to defend myself? unable to post link but it is the WSM forum.”This is related to the unfounded accusation which was never retracted that the Yahoo WSM moderator and I colluded together in publically publishing a private e-mail on the forum. “I sent Alan Johnstone a private email. You can tell it is private the way it is worded. Worse than that the moderator took it from Alan and published it! How low is the party willing to stoop?”Admitting that the error addressing his post incorrectly was his own was beyond Cde. V. Maratty ability. Better to just blame others of a conspiracy. This is what Cde. Marcos said at the time. “You have already violated four rules of this forum, in others forum that I know, you could have been expelled from the forum.” (my emphasis) Frankly, this is a very sad situation.”Only a fool, (and I am not and I am sure other members aren’t too), believed that every post from Lindanesocialist was from her and that her account was not being used as a proxy by Cde. V. Maratty. But believing and proving something are very two different things but I recall Cde. V Maratty acknowledging in a PM to the moderators that he felt a “humiliation” having to resort to logging in on Cde. L Maratty’s forum account. We never expelled him from the forum but permitted Cde. L Maratty to “reply on his behalf” repeatedly. Again to use Cde. V. Maratty’s own words of his past situation and his view at the time.“It seems some member of the SPGB are terrified that I intend to rejoin the party. and are disrupting the forums by attacking ex- members and sympathisers – it is no wonder they remain smallThey are not representative of the party but I have no intention of joining while there people like that in the SPGB.These very same people have chased off sympathizers and will continue to do so until the silent majority discovers what is going on.The members and sympathisers attacked here have since left the party and are being vilified for trying to improve a rubbish moderation”http://www.revleft.com/vb/threads/180388-spgb-forum-purgehttps://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wsm_forum/conversations/topics/51116Little has changed. Yes, it is indeed very sad that the full history of Vin’s past disruptions are being so easily forgotten. I haven’t even gone into the archives of Spopen or Spintcom for the period. Others are very welcome to.Is this Vin simply expressing fair comment and criticism of the Party procedures and process, in particular, the moderation of its forums?From another, I would judge yes, but in his case, I think it simply illustrates a person who is unwilling to change. Due to his (and others) behaviour the Party conducted what could be described as a "branch-poll" concerning the re-admittance of ex-members who still adhere to our principles but have proven to be disruptive to the smooth running of the Party. It overwhelmingly agreed there are indeed grounds for refusing re-membership.When Cde. Maratty eventually re-joined the Party having had his initial request for re-membership denied, his re-admittance was on his own pledges that his behaviour on the forums would improve. I would not be the only one to conclude that this assurance was never kept.All water under the bridge. Let bygones be bygones?Tim, with all good intentions, seeks that we once again take Cde, V. Maratty at his word. I think it perhaps is repeating an earlier mistake that has come back to haunt us and which now requires rectifying for once and for all. I am loathe to say that it is my opinion his continued disruption and claims about a lack of party democracy are reasons not just for his permanent suspension from the forum – but that his latest action was detrimental to the party and deserving of expulsion from the party. As I said at the start, my own attitude has moved from one of lack of confidence to where I now question the integrity of a fellow-member who can again smear the Party and/or its officers, just as he did in the past.My own apologies for my own broken promise to not to add any further to this thread but for those who are only recent members, they should be made aware of everything and that all the relevant information is out there and as Socialistpunk says, not omitted from our consideration of the situation.
Another reason why our blog should be on every member's daily internet visit as we reported it on the 9th of November although we have not posted about the serious consequences which Janet has pointed to although like Janet i have also been following the harrowing tales on the Indian-based CounterCurrent website. http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/17/death-by-demonetisation/I, for one, if i had remained living in Kerala would have been very vulnerable to having no money for living expenses as all my cash came via ATM withdrawals, and now they have run out of lower denominations of money. However, i would have managed by using the debit card directly at the larger department stores or one of the large hotels to buy goods and meals, forgoing the need for hard cash, which is a facility few poor Indians are able to avail themselves of.
Might be my lack of knowledge but i found this article simply failed to catch my interest, perhaps because it failed to recount the rich history of attempted labor parties and third parties that the American left have attempted over the decades. To simply concentrate on one, seems to me to read like a bit of a pet hobby-horse of the author's
As you say, Obama is reported to have deported two and a half million immigrants between 2009 and 2015http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-obama-deportation-of-migrants-dont-act-so-shocked-a7416526.html Since 2008 the number of cases of people being deported for traffic violations has quadrupled.
This article may be of interest for those who wish to get a bit deeper into the nuclear energy issue and environmentalism. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38326-nuclear-power-is-not-green-energy-it-is-a-fount-of-atomic-waste
Quote:The World’s 438 nuclear power plants make only a 3 percent dent in yearly CO2 production compared to if they were natural gas. Each of the 438 individual nuclear plants contribute less than seven thousandths of one percent to CO2 reduction.The World Nuclear Association claims that 1,000 new nuclear power plants will be needed by 2050 to combat CO2 buildup and climate change. The MIT estimate also assumes 1,000 nuclear power plants must be in operation by 2050. Using the nuclear trade association's own calculations shows that these new power plants will offset only 3.9 gigatons of CO2 in 2050; 3.9 gigatons out of 64 gigatons is only 6.1 percent of the total CO2 released to the atmosphere in 2050.If those 1,000 nuclear power plants were cheap and could be built quickly, investing in atomic power reactors might still make sense. Lazard Financial Advisory and Asset Management, with no dog in the fight estimates that the construction cost of those new power plants will be $8.2 trillion to reduce CO2 by only 6 percent. Lazard also estimates that solar or wind would be 80 percent less expensive for the equivalent amount of peak electric output.According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016, the average construction time for 46 nuclear plants that began operation between 2006 and 2016 was 10.4 years, not including engineering, licensing and site selection. Contrast that with a two-year design and construction schedule for a typical industrial-scale solar power plant. Atmospheric CO2 levels will increase by almost 70 ppm during the 35 years it will take to construct those 1,000 new nuclear power plants.Now the economists are beginning to mellow to Trump, at least on the short term, it seems.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/opinion/trump-slump-coming.html
Quote:…don’t be surprised if economic growth actually accelerates for a couple of years…a Trump administration might actually end up doing the right thing for the wrong reasons…an accidental, badly designed stimulus would still, in the short run, be better than no stimulus at all. In short, don’t expect an immediate Trump slump… be prepared for the real possibility that good things will happen …The provincial government of Ontario is to run a pilot project aimed at providing every citizen a minimum basic income of $1,320 (£773) a month. People with disabilities will receive $500 (£292) more under the scheme, and individuals who earn less than $22,000 (£13,000) a year after tax will have their incomes topped up to reach that threshold.$25m (£15m) project over the next two months, which could replace social assistance payments administered by the province for people aged 18 to 65.Inside the article it clarifies that it is only a pilot project of $25m (£15m) over the next two months, which could replace social assistance payments administered by the province for people aged 18 to 65 on three distinct sites: in the north, south and among the indigenous community of Ontario determined by high levels of poverty and food insecurity should be chosen for the test project. It is due to launch in spring 2017, will be voluntary and promised “no one would be financially worse off as a result of the pilot”.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canadian-province-to-give-every-citizen-1320-income-boost-to-overcome-poverty-a7411281.html
My reading of the period that it was Hitler who copied the Communist Party's symbols of banners and parades and rallies and the use of unemployed workers groups as paramilitaries. ie the redshirts.Once he later had the financing of being state-sponsored – they did get much more spectacular with the Nuremberg rallies but at the beginning, the Communist Party was perhaps better at doing the pageantry. But i am also hesitant to equate Trump with Hitler or MussoliniBut yes, Trump's slogans lacked any bread behind them…or if it did, it was based on taking it out of the mouths of other workers…the undocumented or in foreign climes
Perhaps, we could compile a music playlist for a non-stop onstream video/audio radio/tv online channels…
The DNC stopped Sanders from becoming president , as i thought Wikileaks made clear when its disclosures forced the resignation of the chair-woman…They were orchestrating a campaign in favour of Clinton.And they colluded with the Clinton- friendly media to ensure Sanders was provided with not sufficient sympathetic coverage. Core sections of Democrats..blacks and latinos were offered the media by-line…only Clinton has the political connections and power to protect youThe Republican Party bried the same with Trump but didn't have the media suppressing articles so he had good media exposure…even anti-Trump cable outlets still provided him with ample publicity and he knew how to work them being PR-savvy.Anyways time to forget the past and think how we can improve our own presence taking into consideration that the Greens got less than 1% of the popular vote…Our task is to get the WSM to improve from 0.0000001% to 0.000001% using the various write-in vote options.
Perhaps you might like to read this article on Bitcoin – scroll downhttps://gegen-kapital-und-nation.org/media/furball-00.pdf
Quote:This society produces poverty not because there is credit money but because this society is based on exchange, money and economic growth. The libertarians might not mind this poverty, but those on the Left who discovered Bitcoin as a new alternative to the status quo perhaps should.When comedians choose to make public political pronouncements, i expect them to funny. Brand failed to raise a chuckle or a chortle which means he has no more privilege to promote his ideas than either you or i . TYT, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver make their points with clever humour . https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18vz5hUUqxbGvym9ghtX_whttps://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight
Robbo, and i sort of get a sense of what you are suggesting various self-defence survival strategies but are they capable of taking us forward to the next stage of social living? We have witnessed the unintended consequences of what can happen within the parameters of capitalism when we look at the non-effect results of micro-financing…and really we have had a couple of hundred years of capitalist models such a building societies and coops to learn the way things can evolve under capitalism. You may find in this article many things that we can agree upon and i look forward to reading parts 2 and 3
Quote:It seems the sharing economy today is predominantly related to commercial activity, to a vaguely collectivistic notion of accessing commoditised amenities, but not to the awareness that we must share the bounteous produce of this Earth if humanity is to survive. It is certainly not related to the idea of helping the world’s hungry and destitute, the two billion people or more who suffer from undernourishment and other severe poverty-related deprivations…Possibly 90 percent of the supposed sharing economy is associated with commercial profit-making and self-interest to some degree, regardless of any positive social effects that may result from the usage of these new technological platforms. Are we really convinced that this is where the true meaning of sharing is to be found, in accordance with its deepest philosophical and spiritual implications? We have briefly cited the greatest danger to the world today which is an economy based on unbridled market forces and ruthless competition, as well as the second great danger which is our governments who fail to represent the common interests of all citizens, so in hoc are they to a pro-market ideology and the lobbying stranglehold of multinational corporations…Most of these activities are motivated by a concern for our own pleasure and personal well-being, which may appear to be important and socially beneficial. But in light of all the suffering and misery that is erupting throughout the world, is it not time to share resources with those less fortunate than ourselves before we attach such grandiose titles to our self-seeking pursuits? What we have really created is a new method for comfortable living, although that method is so constrained by money-making incentives that it is better described as a gentler form of commercialisation.One more U-Turn it seems…and this time a major campaign promise
Quote:Donald Trump has said that he might not repeal Obamacare, perhaps his biggest campaign promise.The President-elect performed the apparent U-turn after his meeting with Barack Obama at the White House this week, he has said. Mr Trump is going to look at "amending" the Affordable Care Act, rather than completely repealing it, he told the Wall Street Journal.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-obamacare-repeals-latest-policies-quote-replacement-president-elect-a7412621.htmlHow many more to come? And when will it reach the point where his hard-core supporters begin to understand betrayal, although those who held their nose and rather vote Clinton opted for Trump will be relieved that he is transforming into a conventional pragmatic politician.
