alanjjohnstone
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It was agreed for the duration of the campaign for May's general election rather than creating a new dedicated blog site, our existing Socialism Or Your Money Back blog will be adapted. Rather than our usual custom of multiple posts, there will be normally now only just two, of which, one will be devoted to the election. To see what it means in practice go to: http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/
It was his Dublin university talk i watched….and the Q and A sessionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDSP9lmMQzg&list=PLHKVjBSDqMB70oI3D9GdRDskJkKfN90Tc&index=2&feature=iv&src_vid=NmjoCBBHec8&annotation_id=annotation_4071281223 Second warning: 1. The general topic of each forum is given by the posted forum description. Do not start a thread in a forum unless it matches the given topic, and do not derail existing threads with off-topic posts.
Just been listening to Norman Finkelstein on the claims of the rise of anti-semitism…He makes the interesting point that if a state claims to be a Jewish state…and that the head of that nation's government claims to speak on behalf of the world's Jewish population and that also the vast preponderance of world Jewish organisations is supportive of that state …then it is fully understandable that the enemies of that state will class all Jewish targets as legitimate targets. It is not an irrational conclusion to reach….He then as an aside shows the integration …the assimilation of the American Jewish population into marriage with the elite ruling class of America…a sign not of growing anti-semitism but growing acceptance …I think the little known history of Hamas showed that its origins as a university religious society which was then fostered by Mossad financing into becoming an alternative to the Marxist anti-national liberation movements, a tool for divide and rule…to undermine the likes of the secular George Habash of the Populatr Front and others…Yes…the Frankenstein monster that is created does sometimes escape and goes out of control. ISIS according to Gen Westmoreland was funded by America's allies and friends as weapon against Hezbullahhttp://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2015/02/american-general-our-friends-and-allies.htmlPerhaps part of the Arab V Persian "racial" rivalry conducted often under the cloak of Sunni V Sh'ite…proxy wars..and before then ..islam versus zorastrianism…which was never given the privilege of being a "religion of The Book" and singled out for increased persecution. Yes it can get complicated…ideas do take on a life of their own…ISIS slipped the leash..But our materialist explanations are generalisations…not rules to define every specific historic event…there shall be exceptions….and other that comply with our interpretation …….Who can imagine the growth and longevity of the Lords Resistance Army if it was not for the material conditions …the poverty and the political corruption of the region…Who really discusses the theological basis of the LRA?…Does it get called a Christian terrorist group by the media?…or even classed Christian fundamentalism?…No, the religious undertones of the LRA are ignored as being irrelevant to its existence, which is probably the correct interpretation…at best its religious foundation is treated as a leadership cult…I cannot see why this is not applied to certain muslim extremismBut i have found this an interesting thread but not sure if i know where it leads although now i have contributed to it going off-topic. First warning: 1. The general topic of each forum is given by the posted forum description. Do not start a thread in a forum unless it matches the given topic, and do not derail existing threads with off-topic posts.
i just saw your remark on Russia…her reply was wishy-washy pap…i recall similar during the 2003 pre-invasion…lets involve the UN like the nice social democrats we are…lets get a mandate….well they had one for Kosovo…they had one for Libya …well we would still be anti war if the UN had authorised the Iraq invasion …and what's more we would still have been anti-war if Hans Blix had found Iraq overflowing with WMDs…and that is where i would suggest that a more pointed, more vehement response was deserving to the question….a no war but class war answer …and all she did was waffle…
i think you are being very charitable about Bennet…fact is, when put on the spot she couldn't do a simple sum….she couldn't multi-task…We all must know our own limits….i don't think she does….i saw Lucas next day and to be truthful…the communication difference was night and day…Lucas steered the discourse much more and possessed a disarming personality…something i notice a few of the SPGBers possess I think i have made mention that we should not be so rigidly attached to being "nice"…or we will risk coming across on occasions as Harry Enfield's "nice but dim" Tim and perhaps be a little more in your face in our public persona is a more appropriate tactic…But i am not excluding a series of different images for the party…the academic Marxist theorists…the idealistic romantic utopians…the leaderless anarchist archetype …We will be all things to all people and i say that not as a negative…It will be a matter or performing various roles…different strokes for different folks …Russel Brand showed that there was more than one approach to interviews, using humour mixed with seriousness…i was not a fan of it …some on the list have been…but i do acknowledge television appearances and interviews is a bit of theatre…from dress sense on…i recall Labour Alasdair Darling on advice of the spin-doctors shaved off his beard…Thatcher took elocution lessons …Whether we are up to it, who knows…But we aren't going to find out until we are in the position to be tested…particularly by an aggressive interviewers when they do realise we may be a potential threat…Just look at how the Guardian writers now turn on the Green Party when their precious Labour Party seems threatened by them…On the long term I think we should be more prepared for venomous vitriolic attacks from our left flank rather than from the right-wing …but that's just the paranoid in me, speaking
I thiught i got the title wrong…Last not Finalhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Conflict-Pieter-Lawrence/dp/1419647970I know you got a heavy reading list…but some light reading for the holidays….perhaps you yourself might consider writing your own novel some day…or begin with a few short stories such as Richard Montague did with his General Immunity Serum in Within The Systemhttp://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000154540/Within-the-System.aspxGIS taster at http://brandulph.net/gis_1.html
Waitrose…free tea or coffee…Or it used to be…now you have to buy a cake or sandwich…apparently so popular too many were hogging the tables for too long for the freebieI don't know why it says its a revival of communal dining…haven't restaurants and pubs always been that…except not free…the derivation of term public house shows the roots of them…And as a someone who has travelled i have been to places where it is simply someone's front room opened up to the public for meals and/or drinks…the origin of those public houses… and then there are "guest houses", letting strangers stay…
The UK raise the stakes and send in military advisors and trainershttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31610026What is the odds that those they train will be the volunteers members of Right Sector…just as they trained Pol Pot's Khymer Rouge a few decades ago and more recently the "moderate" Jihadists in SyriaAnd just a personal anecdote…Russian planes over the UK…for a couple of years during the 70s i worked at an air traffic control centre…Russian planes nearing UK air space was practically a daily occurrence…and no real concern was shown…up go the UK interceptors and the Russian Bear would fly away…We receive flight plans of NATO reconnaissance aircraft who would then go "operational" in the vicinity of Eatern European/Russian airspace..tit for tat …If i had been Bennet and asked directly about these flights …my answer would be …who fucking cares …stop the hype and hysteria…nations have been there seen it done it got the t shirt…
Our SOYMB blog reported the ghost cities of China report on Grist.http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2011/04/chinas-ghost-cities.htmlWe also posted on the European positionhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2014/02/homes-without-people-people-without.htmlAnd our housing policy in general from 1984 articlehttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2010/01/post-practicability-of-socialism-this.html
Perhaps, Stuart, when pressed by factors outside their control as events indicate might happen…like the Russian Revolution situation – a system of "war communism" might be an option and lets not forget that even in developed nations when capitalism is at war it suspends some of its its operating laws, and this will be forced upon the Greeks and the position of rationing will be raised…to each according to needs, the young, the old, the sick, the vulnerable…will be discussed…and then a solution on how to provide this is offered….from each according to ability…But then those authoritarians of autarky such as some sort of Nazism or North Koreanism will step in so ideology and battle of ideas will always be important …If you haven't read it, i recommend Pieter Lawrence's Final Conflict as an example where socialilism is established less by politics and more by necessity being the mother of invention….But who knows for sure how it will pan out ..We can speculate that the most probably scenario is that Syriza will fall in line and impose austerity …as i think it was you who said it on another thread and another context …make them eat shit BUT with some sugar on it to make it a bit more palatable…I don't think we should be recommending to the Greeks just how much sugar should be added to the shit.
Also, Stuart, if asked the question of pounds and pence costing, it would not be the interviewer telling the SPGB interviewee to go back and do his or her homework on basic policy but the candidate accusing the interviewer of not do their preparation work in understanding the party position, putting the interviewer on the back-foot.Therefore, the candidate would have the advantage with the explanation ALB outlined and not failing the simple arithmetic of 500,000 X 60,000…but she did have the excuse…she had a cold…and i am sure there will be times that one SPGB candate or two won't always be up to top form and might have the mind go blank…but we don't have leaders where the whole credibility of the party rests on the shoulders of one person…It is far easier for us to issue the apology of a poor performance…As delegates of the party carrying out the instructions of the party, there is less necessity for independent thought or individual intelligence…we rely upon a collective knowledge …our MPs can be dunderheads and get away with it…
And for those who went to secondary moderns and didn't have the benefit of an education in the classics, "all things held in common" , the origin of the slogan being Thomas Muntzer of German Peasant Revolution fame
The radio and political commentators having a field-day with the Green Party leaderhttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/feb/24/malcolm-rifkind-under-pressure-to-resign-as-isc-chair-politics-live-blogClick the audio of the radio 4 clip to see how she was embarrassed .A longer video clip.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02kpx6j
Hope you bought them on a sale or return basis, James I'm sure there are more appropriate leaflets lying about HO to distribute at a broad gathering such as the Climate Change March than election ones.Out of interest, how big is our old stock of the now dated Ecology and Socialism pamphlet. If there are sufficient…wouldn't it be a good event to hand out free…just to those, of course, that show an interest in our case and the party…i mean as a targeted freebie…(Everything free with the SPGB) Anyways, hope the sun shines, that you meet up with comradely folk and have a good time.
