ALB
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There's also the one I noticed about him wanting to re-open the mines in South Wales.Here the allegation: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jeremy-corbyns-backing-reopening-south-9866522And here's what he was reported as saying at one meeting (interesting report of meeting)
Quote:In response to reports that he would re-open coal mines, like the ones in Blaenau Gwent, he said: “No, I don’t think there’s any likelihood of mining being developed in the near future” and said he would instead invest in engineering and development jobs.The ironic thing is that Arab Muslims are supposed to have invented the cheque:
Quote:The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.And from wikipedia:
Quote:Muslim traders are known to have used the cheque or ṣakk system since the time of Harun al-Rashid (9th century) of the Abbasid Caliphate.Transporting a paper saqq was more secure than transporting money. In the 9th century, a merchant in country A could cash a saqq drawn on his bank in country B.Maybe they will allow cheques too even if they are paper.Because it apparently preaches "debt-free money" Islamic monetary theory has been popular with some Western currency cranks. Here a famous photo of one Occupy protestor:
I suppose you're right. We have to defend the right of Islamists to free speech just as we do for fascists, even though they're worse than fascists. But we don't have to make a song and dance about it, just concede the principle if pressed. We must avoid at all costs showing any sympathy for islam.
I think you can watch part of the video here:http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/Worth-their-weight-in-gold-ISIS-reveals-new-coins-to-replace-satanic-conception-of-banks-413689The words of the song at the end are revealing:
Quote:The video concluded with a three minute lyrical music video showing ISIS warriors fighting against different backdrops. The song runs through different reasons the warriors fight and each paragraph is inter-cut the chorus which sings, "For the sake of Allah we will march through the gates of paradise where our maidens will wait. We are men that love death just as you love your life, we are soldiers that fight in the day and the night."The good news is that when they commit suicide or get killed, that is. There's nothing there. No maidens (of either sex) waiting for the bastards.
Why is this McCarthyism? It seems more like some Muslims getting a taste of their own medicine. They don't just get plays withdrawn. They kill playrights, cartoonists and filmakers:http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/article/16478
Don't forget the letter from a reader who doesn't think much of Ursula Le Guin The Dispossessed (scroll down):http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2013/no-1312-december-2013/letters
Just realised that this is a site you have to pay to read, so here's what it says:
Quote:Isis has waded into the economic debate amid fluctuating world markets with its own version of jihadinomics.The insurgent group has released an hour-long film attacking the "satanic" global financial system and explaining how it intends to create an "economic 9/11" by banning paper money.In the video, which features footage of Isis militants fighting in Iraq and the Twin Towers falling, the narrator claims: "One of the great forms of corruption that the Earth came to witness was the dark rise of banknotes, borne out of the satanic conception of banks, which mutated into a fraudulent system of enslavement orchestrated by the Federal Reserve in America, a private corporation and system that would, through the use of deceit and force, deprive people of their due, by imposing upon them the usage of the piece of paper, the dollar bill."Isis says that it will shortly issue its own gold, silver and copper coins, which it claims are minted in Mosul.Analysts doubt that Isis could obtain precious metals in sufficient quantities for the currency, however, and are sceptical that the militant group has the ability to mint it with the flexibility to be useful. "An Isis five gram gold dinar would be worth $139," says Tom Keat-inge, director of the centre for financial crime and security studies at the Royal United Services Institute. "Try buying a loaf of bread with it."He adds that gold prices are more volatile than dollar exchange rates and that the video offers a "compelling but rather naive" history of fractional reserve banking, by which economies operate with high levels of debt. Isis says a collapse of the global banking system will occur once the Muslim world returns to using only currency based on precious metals and stops buying US government bonds, leaving America with unsustainable debt.In the end he didn't describe himself as an anarchist either. And he wasn't against contesting local elections. Two more things in his favour.
steve colborn wrote:Personally, I could'nt give a flying fuck about Corbyn, I see him as another cul-de-sac that only results in workers being lead up a blind alley!I think you're being a bit over-protective of his supporters. People out there understand perfectly well Private Eye type covers are meant as amusing caricatures. I think he might prefer to be caricatured as a Back-to-the-70s-er than called a "cul de sac ". In fact, that's another charge his critics within the Labour Party are making. Here's Frank Field:
Quote:One only has to read the findings of Jon Cruddas’s research on the movement of voters away from Labour at the election to realise that Corbyn will be leading Labour into a political cul-de-sac.And here's another (anonymous) Labour MP:
Quote:“Unite have nailed their colors to the mast. They want to take the Labour Party down a Corbyn cul-de-sac."If you want more just type "Corbyn" + "cul de sac" into a search engine.Imgine the reaction of the critics here if the bubble on the front cover had said "Follow me down a cul de sac".
That's not denying that he wants to try to relaunch the economy by increasing government spending (via his neo-leynesian "People's QE") as was the prevailing view prior to the 1980s. In fact, it's got nothing to do with it.
At the Carshalton Environment Fair today our stall was next to the Tories'. They were handing out a card headed "Choose London. Your vote can help choose the next Mayor of London" which explained:
Quote:The Conservative Party will be holding an online primary to select its candidate for the 2016 London Mayoral Election. Anyone in London who is on the electoral roll will be able to register to help the party choose who will stand for the Conservatives in the election next year (…) Four candidates have been shortlisted to stand in the open primary the Conservative Party is holding to select its candidate for the 2016 London Mayoral Election. Andrew Boff, Zac Goldsmith, Stephen Greenhaigh and Syed Kamall.Those on the stall confirmed that you needn't sign any declaration saying you supported "the aims and values" of the Conservative Party but simply be on the electoral roll and pay £1, i.e it's an "open primary".I can see a risk of manipulation here. The strongest Tory on their shortlist is probably Zac Goldsmith, the billionaire. So, if you are a Labour supporter, you wouldn't want him to be selected. So you pay your £1 and vote for Andrew Boff on the grounds that nobody called Boff will have a chance of winning or if the vote 1, 2. 3, 4 place Goldsmith as No 4.
gnome wrote:No evidence whatever of this 'dissuasion' at the Kent Miners' Festival today. Four copies of the September Standard sold (besides other literature) and several amicable conversations held on the Corbyn 'phenomenon'.Our experience (and sales) in Carshalton was similar. People did want to talk about the Corbyn phenomenon, even the Tories on the stall next to ours. Met one former Labour member who signed up and paid his £3 to vote for him (even though he'd voted Green at the general election, but we're not telling). Others seemed to expect us to support him. Green Party members were rather sceptical.
I don't care who else is saying that Corbyn wants to go back to the 70s or why because it's true. The sort of leftwing analysis he shares sees "neo-liberalism" as a policy decision taken by governments, especially in Britain and the US, since the 1980s. It is this they blame for working class problems not capitalism as such which has never really recovered from the end of the post-war boom in the 1970s. They want to reverse this policy decision (as they see it) and go back to the Keynesian policies that were in vogue up until then (that's what "People's QE" amounts too), i.e. go back to the 1970s (and beyond). If the other 3 candidates see this as a criticism it's from a completely different angle. It's because they accept capitalism more or less as it is without even wanting to attempt to try to make it work in some other way.We shouldn't be ashamed or apologise for saying this as it's a correct, and a Marxian, analysis of Leftwing anti-"neo-liberalism". Other analyses of Corbyn's economic policy are possible. Let's hear from those who don't think it represents a throwback to Keynesian government spending to try to get out of a slump. If not, what does it represent?
SocialistPunk wrote:There's nothing wrong with attacking capitalism and its supporters, I'm not suggesting the SPGB stop that. I'm just advocating a more thought out approach, considering short sharp attack/smear tactics are doomed to fail."Smear tactics". That's a serious charge. Here's how it's defined (from: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=smear+campaign)
Quote:A dirty political campaign run against your opponent, using exaggerations, lies, and/or quotes taken out of context, in an attempt to scare or disgust the public against that candidate.We have never employed such tactics.I think you should withdraw..
