alanjjohnstone
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http://nihilist.li/2014/01/08/ukrainian-anarchist-dispels-myths-surrounding-euromaidan-protests-warns-fascist-influence/ This is another very good interview with an Ukrainian anarchist explaining quite a lot. (it even discusses national anarchism with proponents i have debated with and manarchism which i never encountered before…macho-lifestylism??) He also describes "syndicalists believe that unions should pursue political goals together with the economical goals, they should fight, for example, for high wages and together they should keep in their mind that they are fighting eventually for communism, for the downfall of capitalism. In the syndicalist theory, this is called revolutionary gymnastics.The revolutionary gymnastics is everyday struggle for similar reformist things which at the same time develops the muscles of the working class. After these struggles, the workers come out of them more organized and higher level of class conscience.During strikes and demonstrations, the working class consolidates and sort of trains itself for class battles, and for more important and more vital political battles which will come.The revolutionary syndicalism unites basically any left anti-capitalist, while anarcho-syndicalism also implies that all the members of the movement share anarchist views.Personally, I don’t think that anarcho-syndicalism is contradictory in any way to other forms of social anarchism.Anarcho-synthesism is a school of thought which combines anarcho-communism as an ideal, anarcho-syndicalism as a method of reaching that ideal and anarcho-individualism as a base from which you evaluate your actions.”
The latest theory on the Turin Shroud as an example of making science fit the theologyhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/turin-shroud-could-earthquake-dating-back-to-time-of-jesus-solve-the-mystery-9123727.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/veteran-leftwing-politician-and-activist-tony-benn-seriously-ill-in-hospital-9123064.htmlTony Benn on his last legs? Tony Benn is reportedly 'seriously ill' in hospital.Time to update that obituary ?
i watched the debate (suffering the 15 minute countdown to it ) and was disappointed to find Nye rather ineffective in certain areas.Several times, Ham took liberties with the Bible as his authority and Nye could only respond that he was not a theologian and did not challenge what was written in a book (actually a compilation of scores of books) that has been 'translated into American English' which Nye repeated several times.If the source of a person's case is what is said in the Bible, it is that which should exposed as unreliable evidence. As you link to, the Bible is full of errors. Nye didn't even highlight the breaking of natural laws that Ham liked to be seen agreeing with when it suited about when the sun and moon stood still just to assist in a battle. Surely Nye could have pointed out the physical effect of such an event. Nor did i enjoy Nye's justifications of his own case…we need a scientific approach to maintain America's lead in technology. Nor did he really counter Ham's definition of what science was except to say it was of Ham's own creation.I think the right approach is one of riducule and the Bible is full of ludricous propositions. Nor do we need to resort to unproved speculative scenarios. Taking the Bible literally as the creationist claim to do is suffice.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/who-behind-bosnia-riots-201429132930915905.htmlAn Al Jazeera analysis supporting the core of Zizek's.
Londoners enjoyed public investment of £2,731 per head, far outstripping any other region. The north-east received a measly £5 per head. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/10/public-money-private-wealth-london-north-v-southTo set the cat amongst the pigeons.
A BBC overview of the Indian political scene. Athird of elected officials are accused of corruption. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26064485
Apologies for the lack of paragraphs – you all know now the reason is with the website not my lack of concern or consideration.
The book TZM defined is free downloadable here http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/uploads/upload/file/19/The_Zeitgeist_Movement_Defined_6_by_9.pdf I have on skimmed read it so i may be doing it an injustice. “TZM’s advocated benchmark for decision-making is not a Moral Philosophy, which, when examined at its root, is essentially what Marxist philosophy was a manifestation of. TZM is not interested in the poetic, subjective and arbitrary notions of “a fair society”, ”guaranteed freedom”, “world peace”, or “making a better world” simply because it sounds “right”, “humane” or “good”. Without a technical framework that has a direct physical referent to such terms, such moral relativism serves little to no long-term purpose.” But the section on Marx in the economics chapter is passable. But the content of crisis chapter is very contentious. “The reality is that all money comes into existence through loans and each of those loans is made with interest attached, where the loan must be paid back with the interest fee accrued (bank’s profit); meaning that the very nature of money creation automatically entails a negative balance by default. There is always more debt in existence than there is money in circulation….all money today is made out of debt and this debt-money is sold into the market as a commodity through “loans”, with the mark-up of interest attached to generate a profit for the banks. Yet, this “interest” profit, which is money itself, is not created in the money supply itself. For instance, if an individual takes out a loan for 100 dollars and pays 5% interest on the loan, that individual is required to pay back 105 dollars. But, in an economy where all money comes into existence through loans, which is the reality, only the “principal” ($100) exists in the money supply with the “interest income” ($5) uncreated. ….Contrary to popular belief, most loans are not given from a bank’s existing deposits. They are invented in real time, limited only by a set percentage of their existing deposits.453 In short, due to this process over time, it is currently possible that for every $10,000 deposited, about $90,000 can be created from it through the process of ongoing loans and deposits across the entire banking system.” Their solutions are offered in scenarios1. A systematic move from the market economy to a NLRBE could theoretically occur through a step by step” socialization” of the core attributes of the societal infrastructure. Essentially, we dismantle one layer while implementing a new one in the most fluid way we can. This term “socialization”, which is of course a stigmatized notion in the West given the hyper-glorification of the market economy and the demonization of anything otherwise, is still technically appropriate to use in this context, bias aside. This simply means that the necessity of money and the market mechanism would no longer apply to the given social attribute (not that a traditionally “socialist”, in the political and economic sense of the word, structure would replace it). Direct, advanced technical means would produce and distribute without a price tag, meeting these needs directly. 2. “global social movement tactics become critical to put pressure on the existing system, along with helping change the intents and values of the culture itself by vast education and communication projects. transitional activism. The goal here is to not only facilitate a move to the new model, but to also work to help those suffering in the current model, basically bringing them in first in this process of transition. This is done by creating parallel systems, which do not use money but still provide helpful services to people. ” — On this i think they argue muchg the same as Robin Cox has — A mutual credit system is a form of barter for services or goods, which allow non-monetary exchange values to be applied to other goods and services, removing the 1:1 good to good correlation common to simple barter. LETS is an example. It assists an interest free, non-inflationary form of exchange where value cannot float or fluctuate, as it does today, among many other positives. In the case of the “time bank”, it is based on the prior work of the person, in effect. There are a number of variations of these kinds of systems and they are becoming ever more sophisticated in their programming and malleability. Another tactic, which has a similar effect, is the use of community sharing systems….”—also proposed is Stuart Watkins Guaranteed Basic Income —- It is called a “guaranteed” or “unconditional income” system. This simply means people are given basic life-supporting funds each year to meet basic needs, with no one left behind….” The book also discusses the TZM in one country possibility arguing for autarky , stopping all trade with foreign countries and becomin 100% sustainable inspiring other countries to follow suit. But plenty of source material to digest and regurgitate in our own articles. Plenty of practicable prposals on planning, implementation and allocation.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/02/where-did-white-people-come-from/ "When and where did people first become white? It’s not clear. But it happened fairly recently, and not necessarily in Europe. Why does it matter? Because color-based notions of racial hierarchy continue to plague us"
To nit pick Brian i was meaning actual inquiries. The Taylor Report took only a year.But as with the Bloody Sunday other inquiries sprung up since the original ones were not accurate for various reasons. Bloody Sunday was 1972 and the first inquiry was the Widgery Report and the last inquiry being the Saville Report which i was inferring to .The Taylor Report was superceded by the Hillsborough Independent Panel. Also with Iraq, we had the Hutton , the Butler, and various parliamentary committee inquiries.We are all acquanted with Yes Minister…to cover up a misdeed, create an inquiry…just ensure its remit and powers are limited and the chairman hand picked . In Scotland we had Donald Trump trumping local government regulations when setting up his golf course by resorting to central government powers and courting Alex Salmond, before they fell out over wind turbines.
The US appears to be upping the tempo in its propaganda since the failure of the peace talks which some claim were aimed to fail. Apart from criticism that in a midst of a war the Syrian government is behind its timetable to transport its chemical weapons to the third parties, we have the US describing the use of improvised barrel bombs as an outrage ..not like their own sophisticated weaponry used against their enemies. But why Barrel Bombs so deserving of condemnation…and not the use of car bombs by the resistance? If the Syrian government is held to the higher moral point, why not the US themselves or allies such as Israel. Hypocrisy, once againhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bombings_during_the_Syrian_Civil_War
Russell Brand: ‘Socialism Is Christianity Politicized’http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/russell_brand_socialism_is_christianity_politicized_20140120
OOPS – the link http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/04/beyond-capitalism/ And apologies for that formatting fuck-up that accompanies this forum sometimes and needs remedied.
