Young Master Smeet
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SP,different channels of communication opperate under different principles. We have a standing principle to publish all letters to the Standard, but they go through the editorial committee, who have to exercise a degree of judgement (the ones in green ink and going on about Satan tend not to make it through to print for some reason, hideous insidious censorship).At a physical meeting, someone who shouts "whoop-de-whooop-mcpoop" continuously would eventually be "censored" by being man handled outside, where you would no longer be able to judge if somewhere in the noise there was a meaningful message that deserved to be heard.There is no difference when this happens online, save that, because of the delayed nature of the communication, someone could look at it and see if there is something that could be forwarded to the meeting. This is actually an advance.So, we have three clear distinctions to make:Content of communicationManner of communicationAction of communicationThe case being made here is that there should be no restriction on content, but manner and action are matters for consideration, since they are the point at which speech acts impinge on other people.The principle is that the least interference necessary to enable people to communicate their ideas to one another is ideal; and preferably in a democratic context. Obviously, in the case of this forum, the democratic context is not the participants of the forum, but the members of the party through their demcoracy – non-party members have no say in how this forum is run. Fat fact..
SP,If someone sends a message to this website in the wrong code format, it simply won't appear, that isn't censorship, merely a technical fact of the forum's set up. If someone is persistently disruptive, then it is no different to stop accepting their posts, they're sending English in the wrong format. Pre-moderating posts is no different from a chair at a meeting allowing someone to speak, but then cutting them off when they go off-topic. In fact, it is less censorious than simply banning them from the forum.No topic has been censored on this forum.
Quote:who, if not the 'producers' (or, 'workers', as defined above), shall have political power….'elite group' (of 'experts'; often from Young Master Smeet)I have never argued this. Indeed, I've argued the exact opposite, but never mind. The whole community (including those not directly involved for one reason or another in production) should be involved in democratic decision making, in socialism.
To return to the thread: part of the problem of no platform (other than the implicit call it gives to state power, and legitimacy it gives to suppression of ideas) is the power it gives to the fascist bogey: if we don't support mainstream parties, the fash will get us. Whilst I in no way want to diminish the harm the fash would do if they got to power, the only real defence we have against them is support for political democracy, and, ultimately, pro-socialist activity, rather than anti-fascism.
The BBC this morning have been going big in the driverless car trials:http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31364441They already in propaganda mode: asking why people are prepared to trust planes to computers (which they already have) but not cars.To be clear, this is a threat to every Taxi, delivery, lorry, bus and all sorts of other drivers. Yes, new work will come along, and for many of us it will be a liberating boon.
Ah, it seems the Greens *haven't* ditched the policy, just weaselled it:[quoteCaroline Lucas]“The citizen’s income is not going to be in the 2015 general election manifesto as something to be introduced on May 8.“It is a longer-term aspiration; we are still working on it. The aim is absolutely, to be able to give everybody a guaranteed, non-means tested income, because that means that you can get around the poverty trap.“When we come to publish our manifesto in March, you will see the workings out that we’ve got. This is not a policy for the next general election, it is lifting the living wage to £10 an hour by the end of this parliament … challenging the austerity of the other parties . . . what we need to be doing is investing in jobs rather than cutting jobs.”[/quote](My bold)http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/green-deputy-leaders-contradict-caroline-lucas-citizens-income-will-be-manifesto
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/britain-needs-pay-rise/average-wage-worth-%C2%A32500-less-year-cameron-became-pm-says-tucThe hard facts of class war:
TUC wrote:Since David Cameron became Prime Minister the average wage is worth £2,500 less a year, the worst fall in living standards since Queen Victoria was on the throne.[…]From April 2010 to April 2014, the value of average gross annual earnings of full-time employees in the UK decreased by £2,509, or 8.4 per cent. Source: ASHE, adjusted by RPI.This is the real issue of the day, that the prolonged crisis since 2008 has depressed wages and decreased the share of the national wealth going to workers(and the above doesn't include the cuts to the social wage in the form of cuts and restrictions to benefits). Cameron thinks he can buy votes cheap by asking employers to put up wages (which they may, as a political move to keep their party in power).And the TUC? It is doing all it can, it would be futile to be a blow hard and demand a general strike now, they are putting up guerilla resistance where they can (see here for a minor union success) but that just points up the necessity of a political response.
There's a copy of: Pre-capitalist economic formations / Translated by Jack Cohen. Edited and with an introd. by E. J. Hobsbawm. Edition [1st U.S. ed.] Published • New York : International Publishers [1965, c1964](Or another edition of the same) in the party library.
I have my doubts about the efficiacy of the study: one, it's not necessarily an empirical question. I was once doing the party's monthly accounts, and found I was out by 40p. I was about to just write this small discrepencey off, but decided to give it another check. It turned out two lines were out by substantial sums that got me to within 40p of the correct sum. Even if at the accounting level the banks don't directly credit and debit from different bits of their ledger (immediately) ultimately, they must produce balanced accounts. So you can't point to one deposit and say 'it became that loan'.Indeed, the paper says what we have always expressely said:
Quote:Instead we find that the bank treats customer deposits as a loan to the bank, recorded under rubric ‘claims by customers’, who in turn receive as record of their loans to the bank (called ‘deposits’) what is known as their ‘account statement’SP,in this thread I also mentioned the principle of association, which means people may wish to control the manner of expression. No topic has been censored on this forum, the manner of behaviour of forum members has been censured. All such controls are due to channel limitations, and the need to share the resource. The fact that people can go elsewhere to discuss topics in the manner they choose fit is relevent.LBird: so this sub-committee that reviews the material won't become corrupted itself? And you are right, there are things we don't know we don't know about the moon, and that can only be resolved through "going there" (either physically or through advances in remote viewing). If censorship exists, there will be information I don't know I don't know, that I might need to know (or have a chance of finding). I will also be being asked to vote on matters I don't know by your beninign su-committee. Democratic censorship is impossible.
Quote:Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has called for a historic realignment of Irish politics to pave the way for an anti-austerity Syriza-style government here after the next general election.[…]The remarks came after Siptu president Jack O’Connor said the left had a “once in a century opportunity” to lead the next government.The Shinners seem to be courting SIPTU (the Irish trade union) who may well be dischuffed after the performance of Labour as the minority coalition partner in Government there. Interesting attempt to piggy-back the Syriza experience, especially its broiad populist reach (which I suppose is native Sinn Fein turf, since they've always tried to hitch the farming vote as well).
http://theconversation.com/the-international-media-is-failing-to-report-the-syrian-war-properly-37290(MInd, they don't report Mexico, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Nepal, etc.)
Quote:Towards the end of 2014, the favourite narrative (which never quite played out) could be summed up as “Assad is winning”. This year, the theme is “jihadists versus extremists versus jihadists”: this refers to both the Islamic State, which is fighting against Syria’s rebels, and to the “al-Qaeda-linked” Jabhat al-Nusra, which often fights alongside those rebels (but not always).[…]In recent months, these assorted anti-Assad groups have not only turned the tide on the Damascus regime’s forces, but have made notable advances throughout Syria. Sometimes working with Jabhat al-Nusra, they have moved into towns and villages and captured Syrian military bases.They now control most of north-west and south-west Syria, and, in January 2015, they advanced from the south towards Damascus. They have also been battling the Islamic State throughout Syria, from Aleppo Province in the northwest to Hama and Homs Provinces in the centre, to the greater Damascus area.and
Quote:Meanwhile, the more substantial Syrian conflict – the one with another 200 deaths daily, and 300,000 since 2011, with 4m refugees worldwide and 7m people displaced inside the country – has all but disappeared from view.Obviously, Ukraine has kind of stolen the limelight, and the Russian connexion to the Syria debacle is there, but we must never let it be forgotten that it was military adventurism that led us to this pass…
I think this sums up what TUSC means to the RMT:http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/rmt-union-president-im-standing-8598307
Quote:Peter Pinkney, the highest ranking layperson of the RMT Union, will campaign against Ed Miliband’s party in Redcar, claiming: “The party of the left is now the Green Party.”JUst to show what Lord Ashcroft is predicting for this seat:I think its safe to say he won't win.
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2013/no-1311-november-2013/how-did-social-inequality-ariseThe creation of inequality : how our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for monarchy, slavery, and empire / Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus. Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Harvard University Press 2012
