alanjjohnstone
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Workers Power and Corbynhttps://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/workers-power-missing-please-return-to-owner/#comments
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/02/pacific-islands-make-last-ditch-plea-to-world-before-paris-climate-change-talksPacific islands make last-ditch plea to world before Paris climate change talks‘Unless the world acts decisively in coming weeks, the Pacific as we know it is doomed,’ says Fijian prime minister.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/01/financial-armageddon-crash-warning-signsWhat do our more economic-savvy members think of his prediction…Should i cash in my income bonds now before the pending crash or do i still have time to let them reach maturity?
Robert Fisk, to my mind the most under-rated journalist in the UK, has written a review of Under the Black Flag which is about daily living under ISIS. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/a-new-book-reveals-the-horrifying-and-fascinating-details-of-daily-life-under-isis-a6717056.htmlPerhaps a member might have read it too and would like to comment.
Read an interesting interpretation on the Russian progandist website RT about why Obama is sending special focrces into Syria….they are actually being used as human shields, to stop the Russians bombing of America's allies, knowing that Putin would be diplomatically reluctant to actually directly fire upon Americans.Makes more sense than thinking 50 soldiers no matter how special they are would make a difference. https://www.rt.com/op-edge/320356-syria-us-troops-shields/Imagine the effect if America woke up to tv broadcasts of American GIs being blasted to pieces by Russian missiles….i doubt the response would be the same as when MH17 being shot down
Gnome, i know what you are getting at and i know some members have adopted the attitude to leave them to it and stay away, so to speak, but if we care to look at the archives of Spopen and WSMforum, these exact same tendencies existed on those as well, yet we still have a few members who have not migrated to this list and persist posting on the old ones even if it is to practically an empty hall …YMS is right, some members don't like computers but those members who have modern mobiles and Facebook and for ever texting and sending pictures, it seems the Party itself aren't getting the thumbs ups and we don't make friends….We are part of the unsocial media, it seems.However, it is the internet and web where i see our greatest potential for activity and if we can't get it right for fellow members, we do have a big challenge on our hands to use it to communicate with fellow workers. Lets get it skype…oopps i meant right
I do possess a limited understanding of that science, DJP, but as i stated but perhaps not made it clear….it is the economic and political effect of those promoting GM within the current capitalist system which is why i seriously question the overall benefits of GM technology in its practical application in the real world of commerce. There are social consequences for small farmers and growers to adopting GM as it is being marketed now. My point was that the purpose of maize GM technology was not actually to benefit humanity but to benefit the coffers of Monsanto. If you wish to claim, as some do, that Monsanto's scientists are devoting themselves to advancing mankind as their priority and it is not the corporation's balance sheets that are driving them, i'm very happy to see the evidence.The article i cited talked of the continuing lack of nutrition in maize, decades after the first GM maize was developed and authorised and widely grown, and i merely pointed out it is not the white-coated technicians in Monsanto's laboratories who have concentrated attention to the food quality of maize but an African-based NGO using their traditional skills. Scientists are, of course, at the service of their pay-masters. I did suggest if anyone has reports of Monsanto's humanitarian research, please let us know. But i did argue that there research on GM is tied into their other iron in the fire – the pesticide industry…it is difficult to uncouple them.
As post script to above….i think i was on acid at the time i saw it and thought it was real…I'm no longer tripping and part of me now knows it is indeed real…just look at Guantamano Bay
I recall being enthralled by Punishment Park when i first saw it as a teenagerIt is available here to viewhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xms94x_punishment-park_shortfilmsAs women strikers so very long ago said, Vin, we struggle for roses as well as bread.I am very happy that the Standard carries arty articles.
This made me ponder. Much defence is made of the nutritional benefits that can be had by developing GM food, one being what is known as Golden Rice which is still to be rolled out, despite the long wait. Nevertheless, one crop that has been genetically modified the most has been maize (corn). Most maize around the world is GM. So i was intriqued to read this articlehttp://www.ipsnews.net/2015/10/how-climate-change-threatens-zambias-already-fragile-nutrition-record/
Quote:maize – a staple food for more than 1 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America – lacks essential micronutrients such as vitamin A. This common deficiency in the diets of poor malnourished populations leads to retarded growth, increased risk of disease and reproductive disorders.Have you read of Monsanto urging its researchers to tackle this aspect? I haven't. But the article goes on to explain that this deficiency in maize is being remedied.According to an international research agency HarvestPlus …
Quote:by using conventional crop breeding techniques to develop five new Vitamin A-rich varieties of maize in Zambia. The varieties produce orange coloured maize cobs, and in farmer trials they have been found to produce yields similar to hybrid white maize varieties.(my emphasis)Now,my case has never been that GMO was a health risk but one that was based upon the economics of Big Ag dominating the small food producers of the developing world and the political clout Monsanto etc possess (you need to be as powerful as the EU or Russia to counter it) They make much of the potential benefits to humanity but, really, when i come across facts as the above, i realise that the benefits is entirely to support their own Big Business interests. Monsanto GM maize was developed not to increase its nutritional value but to make it more compatable with the pesticides Monsanto sells.
I think it is for them themselves to explain. I would only be conjecturing. Various members probably have different reasons but i do think their reluctance to participate has an effect upon Party democracy. If we cannot interact and engage with them informally through the feedback mechanism of this discussion list then the only other recourse is officially through communicating directly with the committees and/or the EC, increasing the cumbersome nature of our bureaucracy (although i don't think that word is exactly the right one) I think it is time to close down the two old lists Spopen and WSM Forum and leave just Spintcom and this one active so that there no longer any other option. We cannot press-gang them into joining this discussion list but why offer an alternative which as i can judge is very lightly trafficked by its members when they do post.The internet committee might provide us some stats on thoe lurk on these lists. I do wonder why Canadian or New Zealand or Indian members (and many others) are not posting here. We just had the Canadian election and we heard not a whisper about it first-hand. We have the murder of beef-eaters and dalits in India, yet no comment from our members there about it. Just two detrimental examples. But if our own people do not care about exchanging views and opinions and even simply posting basic info that might be helpful for others, then why should John and Jane Doe bother to join it.
I might as well say my piece now and make it pertinent to the November London Climate Change march…which i am led to believe will be very largeJonW –
Quote:I've seen many media reports (to vast audiences bigger than the demos themselves) with banners but never one highlighting a leaflet…Actually, this is something we ourselves have experience of directly. Remember a few years back and the surprise and the impact upon members here when they saw that Zeitgeist Movement's "Abolish Money" banner at the head of a protest and for many of us it was what first drew our attention to them. No doubt my previous pleas for new colourful banners dedicated to climate change have gone unheeded. But recall…wasn't eitgeist's basically a white sheet with a painted slogan. If we are not permitted by conference decisions to march alongside fellow workers the surely we can pin-point strategic eye-catching vantage point along th route to stand with our banners catch the eye of those who pass by. I think it has passed into Party legend now but Glasgow Br did just that…with a banner that declared a CND march would solve nothing and was a waste of time. Perhaps not the sentiments that got us sympathy…but striking enough to be cited in a book a few decades later. We have always leafetted protests and demonstrations and i'll be brutally honest – our leaflets simply don't stand out. I have often said that we should indeed leaflet a protest…not with one but with a variety of leaflets, in different writing styles. Read the COP21…most of it is teaching our grannies to suck eggs. Those on the march know perhaps better than us about the technical details of climate change as in
Quote:Most scientists in the field take the view that it has mainly been caused by the increase in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere largely as a result of the burning of the fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas. If this is the case, then one part of any solution has to be cut back on burning these fuels.is simply being a little condescending to those marching. We are leafletting the converted and the thing those participating are missing is our socialist solution and the condemnation of capitalist palliatives. It is no good mentioning those in the passing…we have to highlight it and express it as forcefully and in as many different ways as we can. We can't express our case in just one short text , no matter how pithy it can be drafted…And i'm sure some have noted that in the past i also say we should be distributing 4-sided newspaper style news-sheets which features several different articles and a variety of graphics to present some in depth analysis.
Quote:The idea that walking among hundreds or thousands of workers with a banner calling for 'abolition of the wages system' is cheerleading or offering critical support is the guilt by association fallacy.We have to make our presence felt when there is a huge crowd. Then we can make our case known. How can half a dozen hard-pressed volunteers do that…well, with banners and flags and bugles and whistles and a lot of noise….I remember being on a Falklands War protest and i think some Sparticus Leaguers manage to turn the protest into a pro-Argentina march using megaphones so that all the passer-bys got that erroneous impression…it was effective…even if in a very negative…When did the Party last take a mega-phone (better still one of those very much improved small portable PA system now available) along to a protest and mount a soap-box to address the participants on the fringes of the rally when people got bored with the usual cliches from the platform speakers. (I think YMS once took advantage of that facility which was offered by one of our rival organisations on one march.) I am and i don't think anybody else are suggesting anything beyond our capabilities…we are not demanding the impossible to coin a well known phrase. Simple things that are relatively cheap is possible.Being more adventurous why not make a vox-pop video when we attend demos…stopping marchers and asking for their impressions of our own solution. Not my idea but something that another very small group in America have done effectively…Check their street video clipshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVh9o-sVDHV9XmE6hRIlU3wFor sure, i have much more to add, but that is enough for now, simply to argue that all we are lacking is imagination when it comes to interacting with fellow workers…especially those who have made that step to protest and demonstrate for what they want – an alternative better world. Again you all know i pres for a full discussion – a conference – that can make definite proposals to put to a vote and put into action, rather than what we have been doing for a while now…talking..and talking ..and often repeating ouselves (at last i do ) and seemingly going around in circles with nothing ever bing decided.
I also read the article and placed a short comment.alan johnstone • 12 hours agoAn article spoiled by the endorsement of Socialist Alternative. I suppose we face the same argument as we have had previously about Brand and Corbyn…that they are bringing a well-needed attention to the subject of socialism…or that Sanders and co are distracting and actually adding confusion to socialism. My point was that even critics of Sanders from the left as in the linked article are not much clearer in their conception of socialism.
Quote:robbo203 wrote: My impression is that the Party has been shrinking and is certainly significantly smaller than when I first joined – probably about 200 members less. Fewer.“Better Fewer, But Better” – Lenin
