robbo203
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Has RobinC’s very modest ten-minutes-a-month on the web obligation been taken up by many? But we’d never know because most members won’t even spend five minutes a month on this forum, will they?
I routinely and as a matter of habit, post links to articles and pamphlets on this site. I think some Indian comrades do the same. If even 20-30 members did the same it could make a huge difference in terms of hits on this site and elsewhere.
Its not a lot of effort at all – I suggested 10 minutes a month.
Why dont members and sympathisers here spread the word and get other people involved. SPGB Branches should actively consider this proposition at their next branch meeting
London bureau
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Telephone +44 749 5649 8989Is someone on the Publicity Committee on this forum? Perhaps these details can be forwarded to the Committee. RT often goes on about free speech and recent news items have included critical commentary on Antifa’s attack on Anthony Ngo and leftist attacks on “little AOC” Not surprising for a right wing outfit like RT
They might however be surprised by the SPGB’s position on free speech and our opposition to the counter-productive and elitist “no platform” policy of some on the Left
This has just been published on the Areo website https://areomagazine.com/2019/07/02/is-anti-zionism-a-form-of-anti-semitism/
There’s more where that came from, i.e. Steve Coleman. For instance, “in the mean time.”
Could you elaborate, Adam?
The article linked to might be of interest. Its the usual platitudinous wishy-washy well-meaning left capitalist crap. I get a lot of this sort of stuff in my email in-tray, subscribing as I do, to various newsletters from entities such as the Next System project which is linked to Democracy Collaborative. Its quite frustrating because there is no feedback or comment facility and I would love to be able to comment
Don’t know much about the subject but according to Wikipedia….
“According to his friend, theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, More once seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career to become a monk.[15][16] Between 1503 and 1504 More lived near the Carthusian monastery outside the walls of London and joined in the monks’ spiritual exercises. Although he deeply admired their piety, More ultimately decided to remain a layman, standing for election to Parliament in 1504 and marrying the following year.[12]:xxi
More continued ascetic practices for the rest of his life, such as wearing a hair shirt next to his skin and occasionally engaging in flagellation.[12]:xxi A tradition of the Third Order of Saint Francis honours More as a member of that Order on their calendar of saints.[17] “I was a bit puzzled on reading the minutes of the first meeting that Veronica and Shane were listed as non members in attendance. I hadn’t realised that they had left the SP. Does this mean they might be re-joining?
Hi, I’ve not been following the Election tbh. I’m on a site, where at least 3 people are engaged in constant vitriol and derision of the party and myself.
What site is that, James? Its always good to have reinforcements and I’m game
Hi ErichMorris
That is not quite the position of the SPGB that you have outlined. The position of the SPGB is that it solicits support only on the basis of maximum revolutionary programme and does not proactively advance a platform of reforms to attract such support – what is called reformism. The historical evidence is overwhelming that once you start doing the latter you can be absolutely certain that the revolutionary goal of socialism will be side-lined and eventually forgotten about
However it is also the position of the SPGB that once the socialist movement is strong enough and socialist delegates start being elected to parliament, that these delegates (or rather the Socialist Party as a whole) will consider reforms advanced by the various capitalist parties (but never by the Socialist Party itself) on their merits and to the extent that these benefit the working class.
We do not take the dogmatic and absurd view that no reforms can ever be of benefit to workers; it just that we do not propose such reforms ourselves for the reason given. Insofar as particular reforms are judged to be of benefit to workers, socialist delegates in parliament will be instructed by the Party organisation to vote in favour of them. In other words, our relationship to reforms will be reactive rather than proactive
I think this is a sensible pragmatic position to take which preserves intact the revolutionary credentials of the Socialist Party. I honestly cannot see any other alternative from a socialist point of view…
John
I think the question of the individual is relative rather than absolute. Yes, there is no such thing as a “non determined” being but it is going too far to say therefore that the “individual does not exist” – unless you chose to define the individual as a “non determined being” which is a quite unrealistic definition, in my view. That is the bourgeois atomistic view of the free floating individual which you are attacking but there are other ways of looking at the individual
You say “We are all cells, and like all cells, live and function in relation to one another and the society we compose”. But to pursue this metaphor, just as a body wouldn’t exist without cells meaning the existence of a body implies the existence of these cells, so human society could not exist without the existence of the empirical individuals that comprise it (which emphatically does not mean human beings predated society and got together to create society in Lockean fashion via the so called “social contract”)
The real question that needs to be posed is what is the relationship between the individual and society and surely the answer to that is that it is a two way or dialectical relationship. Individuals are not merely determined but also determine albeit within constraints set by the nature of the society they live in
Plekhanov’s work , <b>On the Role of the Individual in History</b>, remains for me one of the best expositions of this point of view
https://www.marxists.org/archive/plekhanov/1898/xx/individual.html
Despite a reminder the Surrey Advertiser has refused to publish this correction to their mistake in saying that we stood for “Lexit” as a “pro-worker EU exit”:
I am quite surprised by this because back in the days when there was an active branch in Guildford, the Surrey Advertiser would definitely have been more amenable . Did they give a reason for refusing to publish a correction? Of course, there is always the option of writing a letter to the Letters Page which may in fact be preferable to getting them to publish a correction inasmuch as it would stand out more prominently. As I remember it, the Advertiser was notable for its Letters page and Guildford Branch members must have had well in excess of 100 letters published in that paper over the lifespan of that branch. But of course, things may have changed now….
Hi Alb
Having now read the Snopes article I’m now inclined to agree that the claims about death of 200-300 starlings as a result of a 5G experiment do look very dodgy indeed. If you look at the link to Kuhle’s article he claims to have rebutted the Snopes article and that a colleague of his had debunked Snopes completely. I dont quite see how this is the case. It seems there was a time limited 5G experiment of 1 day but this wouldn’t account for the deaths of the starlings over several days
So, fair enough, we can probably safely dismiss this particular case as unwarranted speculation. However, I am far less reassured when it comes to the more general claims about the health impacts of 5G. As I said there is credible mainstream scientific evidence of a correlation between electromagnetic radiation and leukaemia clusters for example in the case of power lines. There was a mega study recently (Ill try to fish out the link) that collated the results of a large number of studies and came to this conclusion. There are also other factors involved such as airborne pollutants (especially in the vicinity of motorways) that can complicate the picture when dispersed .
As I understand the point about pylons for example is that you have to live pretty close to one to be potentially at risk; the effect falls off sharply the further you move away from the radiation source
The worrying thing about 5G is , as I said, that “represents a very substantial increase in the densification of radiation with an exponential increase in the number of masts as well as thousands of satellites beaming waves to earth”
I dont think it is unreasonable to be concerned
Hi Adam,
Well, I did qualify my position on the matter by saying that
“I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to make a judgement as to how strong are the grounds for concern about this particular technology but I wonder if others here, better informed than me, might like to comment?”
I wouldn’t say I am a “sucker” for conspiracy theories (you are wrongly assuming I accept them because I bring them up for discussion) – though I am fascinated by them and yes I was aware that the name of the website in question – “Truth Revolution” – might give one good reason for being cautious/ suspicious. But all the same one must be equally wary of just dismissing something as simply a “conspiracy theory” when it might well be presenting an inconvenient truth, albeit tucked away amongst a lot of over the top rhetoric. There can be exaggeration being used on either side of this debate and the link you gave, I think demonstrates this.
The writer, Harrieta Hall, is quite right to criticise Helke Ferrie’s article for its sensationalism e.g. Don’t use cell phones, Don’t watch TV , dont use microwaves etc etc – but I think she goes too far the other way in dismissing the potentially harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation about which there is fairly credible scientific evidence e.g. leukaemia clusters in children.
See for example this
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/science/debate-continues-on-hazards-of-electromagnetic-waves.html
There is also this, though you might regard the Environmental Health Trust as a conspiracy site (but check out some of the links)
Regarding 5G the concern is that it represents a very substantial increase in the densification of radiation with an exponential increase in the number of masts as well as thousands of satellites beaming waves to earth. The expression “tipping point” springs to mind
What about the incident in Holland where hundreds of birds suddenly died reputedly in connection with a 5G experiment – which is what prompted me to start this thread in the first place. The Snopes website which exposes fraud exposed this incident as a fraud.
But the person who seems to have made the original claim has responded thus.
I agree it smacks a bit of conspiracy theory talk but the important point is are the central facts correct and if so how would one explain them? I would be interested to hear counter explanations. What would be yours?
