ALB
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I don’t see the logic or justification for the authorities wanting to ban anti-vaxxers from social media.
The same principle applies in this case that the way to deal with objectionable or mistaken views is to let them be expressed and then to refute them, not prevent from being expressed.
So let them put their case and then shoot it down. Banning them is not likely to change their minds and provides them with ammunition to argue that they are being suppressed because the authorities have something to hide. And who who is not already inclined that way is going to be convinced by hearing or reading then?
There is also this passage from that report on state-owned oil companies (NOCs):
“Many of the countries with NOCs are highly dependent on oil and gas revenues. They should be helped to overcome this dependence, according to Manley. “These countries are often quite poor, and it’s not their fault – it is not as easy as saying to BP and Shell they should shut down,” said Manley.”
Another reason why a rational world energy policy is impossible under capitalism — the sectional interests of the various capitalist states into which the world is divided politically get in the way.
That would suggest that the US government thinks that the Chinese rulers are behind the coup or at least gain from it and is preparing to punish the ordinary people of Burma for being ruled by a government considered hostile to the overseas interests of US capitalism. Just as it has done to the people of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Syria. The US government is not interested in “human rights” in these places but in “regime change” — to one favourable to its interests.
He jumped ship too soon. If he had stayed on he would have had a good chance of becoming chancellor of the exchequer. At least he now realises that the LibDems are a waste of time.
It’s the same in nearby Madagascar:
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-53756752
What will keep the death rate down in these countries is not these quack remedies but the fact that they have so high a proportion of young people compared to the USA, Japan and European countries. The good news is that his concoction probably won’t do any harm. It sounds as if it might make a good soft drink.
I have come across two people who have told me they are refusing the jab. One is a party member who believes in Nature Cure. The other is the daughter of an ex-party member who thinks that it is a plot by Bill Gates to reduce the world’s population. I suppose this will be a typical cross-section of the small minority of refuseniks.
It isn’t really a military coup as the military have held power there for decades. It is just that for the past few years they have handed over a part of the civil administration to elected civilians. What they have just done is to remove that façade. They never gave up real power. That’s why I can’t see them doing an Erich Honecker and giving up (though I imagine they could have a gilded retirement in China). They are talking of fresh elections. What will they do if they lose those?
So this isn’t really the hypothetical scenario that is put to us. Still, it is a case of a ruling class trying to rule in the face of mass popular opposition. Which they can do for a while. As long as the armed forces remain loyal to them they can see off strikes and street demonstrations.
Not really. The first sentence was a description of what is happening now, i.e. strikes and street demonstractions. The second sentence was saying we can’t predict what will happen next. The military might back down or they might crack down. It’s up to them.
On the face of it the situation is similar to what some imagine will happen if there is a socialist election victory — those in control of state power won’t accept it.
Elections there did give one party an overwhelming electoral victory which the rulers are trying to negate — interestingly from one point of view as they too are appealing to democracy to give some legitimacy to what they have done.
Our answer to this hypothesis has been that if there is a majority for socialism they will win one way or another sooner or later. The immediate reaction could be a general strike and mass demonstrations and civil disobedience as well as refusals in the armed forces and police to obey the government. In fact without this last the ruling clique is likely to win, temporarily. Which is what may happen in Burma. But in the longer term they will have to bow to the popular will. We will have to see what happens as nothing can be predicted. The next move is up to the coup leaders.
Incidentally I defend the use of the name Burma (and Rangoon) on the grounds that we don’t need to pander to the nationalism of the current ruling group. Even the Wikipedia entry says:
“In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma’s colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: Burma became Myanmar. The renaming remains a contested issue. Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country.”
We draw the line at voluntarily joining the armed forces. Anyone who does that is ineligible for membership.
I think there is a danger here of mixing up the situation under capitalism and in socialism. Of course there are many jobs that will disappear in socialism but we don’t call for their abolition today. For instance, there will be no banks in socialism but we don’t call for banks to be closed and so for bank workers to lose their jobs.
Nor have we any illusions about swords being changed into ploughshares under capitalism. In fact near where I am living is the site of an aircraft factory that is now a housing estate. At one time a prominent shop steward there was a party member and also served on our executive committee. I don’t think he was campaigning for the factory to be closed because it was producing warplanes.
If he had he wouldn’t have been a shop steward for long. The old Communist Party faced this problem in 1932 when it tried to force one of its leading members who was a shop steward in a munitions factory in Sheffield to popularise the slogan “Stop the Transport of Munitions”. He refused and was expelled. The incident is recorded here.
I think our Canadian comrades were only making the point that this was another example of workers losing their jobs which of course they are dependent on to have a regular above poverty line income. I don’t think that they were supporting the project.
But this shows why eco-campaigners have a problem when they are in effect campaigning that workers should lose their jobs. Understandably the workers involved are unsympathetic and their employers use this as an argument for keeping their project going even though their real reason is to make profits not provide jobs.
The real lesson is that it shows how under capitalism workers are dependent on finding a buyer for their mental and physical energies to live. The only alternatives are stealing, begging or minimal state handouts.
Until I read that SPC piece I hadn’t realised that Biden is trying to out-Trump on this issue, probably in a bid to win over his voters. But then this was a point on which even Sanders agreed with Trump.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade/Biden-tightens-Buy-American-rules-with-executive-order
From the Socialist Party of Canada’s February Newsletter:
Most of you who read this will have seen Joe Biden’s swearing in after he won most of the electoral college votes in America’s sham-democracy. Lady Gaga did a fine job singing the anthem, but what an anthem, the very lyrics speak of violence, which is symptomatic of America’s violent history. JLo sang, “This Land is Your Land,” by Woodie Guthrie. The incongruity being Guthrie, as a member of the so-called Communist Party, was an advocate of state capitalism and his song was banned from being sung in concerts in the 1950’s and early 60’s.
Though none of the above is a big deal, what is big, down and dirty deal is that in his first day in office Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, much to Trudeau’s dismay. This will mean job losses for Canadian workers, though, however, much workers may suffer, it’s the way of the world under capitalism.
Biden’s decision to cancel the XL pipeline, which was designed to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil, from Alberta to Nebraska, brought fierce reaction in Canada. TC Energy Corp. is going to eliminate 1,000 construction jobs. Alberta Premier, Jason Kenney, called Biden’s decision, “A gut punch and an insult,” and suggested that if Biden doesn’t change his mind, the federal government should impose trade sanctions. On the same day Biden was talking of “Buy American” – implying there will be less trade with Canada – which would cause more lay-offs in Canada. Under capitalism, if workers do well at all in one area they will do badly in another, and as a class, workers will always be worse off.
