Dana Bass did not mince words as she called out Trump for dining with anti-semite Kanye West and White Nationalist Nick Fuentes. She had the basic question for Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
“Trump insisted Friday that he hadn’t previously known Fuentes,” said Dana Bass. “But a source tells CNN he found the white supremacist, quote, very interesting, particularly scientists, his ability to rattle off statistics and data and his familiarity with Trump. … What’s your reaction to seeing a former U.S. president associate with someone like that?”
Hutchinson showed a bit of disdain. It is clear he feels freer to make it known he is Fed up with Donald Trump.
“Well, I hope someday we won’t have to be responding to what former President Trump has said or done,” Hutchinson said. “And this instance, it’s important to respond. I don’t think it’s a good idea for a leader that’s setting an example for the country or the party to meet with an avowed racist or anti-Semite. And so it’s very troubling, and it shouldn’t happen. And we need to avoid those kinds of empowering extremes. When you meet with people, you empower them, and that’s what you have to avoid. You want to diminish their strength, not empower them. Stay away from it.”
That was well said. But it was all in his body movements. The party is ready to unload Trump.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Following Wednesday's tabulation of ranked-choice votes in races where no candidate won a majority on Nov. 8, nine Democrats and eight Republicans in Alaska's state Senate announced the formation of a bipartisan majority coalition, similar to one that held sway in the chamber from 2007 to 2012. The situation in the House, however, remains uncertain.
The alliance ends a decade of Republican control over the Senate, though GOP Sen. Gary Stevens will hold the top role of president, a position he served in during the last bipartisan coalition. That leaves just three far-right Republicans out in the cold; Stevens said they've been "difficult to work with" and specifically cited the fact that they've voted against state budgets their own party had crafted. (Members of the majority are required to vote for the budget, a system known as a "binding caucus" whose enforcement is evidently now being given effect.)
GOP self-destructing
"According to the Associated Press, the loss of Cochise County’s votes—which are expected to greatly favor Republican candidates—would threaten a possible U.S. House seat and a state schools chief position. The best part about this all is that you can now take the next sentence and file it in your “foot, meet mouth” folder. Those seats are expected to go to Republican candidates—but could now flip to the Democratic challenger."
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Discussion 18 – Anthropology 152 – 11/28/22
Discussion 18 – Anthropology 152 – 11/28/22
Why are Adam and Eve ashamed of their nudity ? Why do they put the fig leaf on ? ( The origin of clothes -smiles) Why weren’t they ashamed before ?
What is an v incest taboo ?
“An incest taboo is any cultural rule or norm that prohibits sexual relations between certain members of the same family, mainly between individuals related by blood. ALL human cultures have norms that exclude certain close relatives from those considered suitable or permissible sexual or marriage partners, making such relationships taboo; THE INCEST TABOO IS A HUMAN UNIVERSAL . However, different norms exist among cultures as to which blood relations are permissible as sexual partners and which are not. Sexual relations between related persons which are subject to the taboo are called incestuous relationships.
Some cultures proscribe sexual relations between clan-members, even when no traceable biological relationship exists, while members of other clans are permissible irrespective of the existence of a biological relationship. In many cultures, certain types of cousin relations are preferred as sexual and marital partners, whereas in others these are taboo. Some cultures permit sexual and marital relations between aunts/uncles and nephews/nieces. In some instances, brother–sister marriages have been practised by the elites with some regularity. Parent–child and sibling–sibling unions are almost universally taboo.[1]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest_taboo
See Marshall Sahlins essay on the Origin of (Human) Society ( handout):
The Origin of Society by Marshall Sahlins
The decisive battle between early culture and human nature must have been waged on the field of primate sexuality…. Among subhuman primates sex had organized society; the customs of hunters and gatherers testify eloquently that now society was to organize sex…. In selective adaptation to the perils of the Stone Age, human society overcame or subordinated such primate propensities as selfishness, indiscriminate sexuality, dominance and brute competition. It substituted kinship and co-operation for conflict, placed solidarity over sex, morality over might. In its earliest days it accomplished the greatest reform in history, the overthrow of human primate nature, and thereby secured the evolutionary future of the species." — Sahlins, M. D. 1960 The origin of society. Scientific American 203(3): 76–87.
http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/sites/default/files/pdf/class_text_036.pdf v>
http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/sites/default/files/pdf/class_text_036.pdf
When God told them _not_ to eat the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil , did he know already that they would disobey him ?
The snake _tells_ Eve it’s ok to eat the forbidden fruit ? Can snakes talk ? Can snakes lie ?
Why would Darwin agree with God when God tells people not to take revenge against Cain for killing Abel ? Why would Darwin agree with this advice to our species to raise our species fitness ?
Did the first humans earn their living by the sweat of their brow ?
_________________- What is an iconographic sign in _semiotics_ and as Professor Brown has defined it in class ?
What is a different meaning of “ iconography” than my definition above ?
Why are Adam and Eve ashamed of their nudity ? Why do they put the fig leaf on ? ( The origin of clothes -smiles) Why weren’t they ashamed before ?
What is an v incest taboo ?
“An incest taboo is any cultural rule or norm that prohibits sexual relations between certain members of the same family, mainly between individuals related by blood. ALL human cultures have norms that exclude certain close relatives from those considered suitable or permissible sexual or marriage partners, making such relationships taboo; THE INCEST TABOO IS A HUMAN UNIVERSAL . However, different norms exist among cultures as to which blood relations are permissible as sexual partners and which are not. Sexual relations between related persons which are subject to the taboo are called incestuous relationships.
Some cultures proscribe sexual relations between clan-members, even when no traceable biological relationship exists, while members of other clans are permissible irrespective of the existence of a biological relationship. In many cultures, certain types of cousin relations are preferred as sexual and marital partners, whereas in others these are taboo. Some cultures permit sexual and marital relations between aunts/uncles and nephews/nieces. In some instances, brother–sister marriages have been practised by the elites with some regularity. Parent–child and sibling–sibling unions are almost universally taboo.[1]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest_taboo
See Marshall Sahlins essay on the Origin of (Human) Society ( handout):
The Origin of Society by Marshall Sahlins
The decisive battle between early culture and human nature must have been waged on the field of primate sexuality…. Among subhuman primates sex had organized society; the customs of hunters and gatherers testify eloquently that now society was to organize sex…. In selective adaptation to the perils of the Stone Age, human society overcame or subordinated such primate propensities as selfishness, indiscriminate sexuality, dominance and brute competition. It substituted kinship and co-operation for conflict, placed solidarity over sex, morality over might. In its earliest days it accomplished the greatest reform in history, the overthrow of human primate nature, and thereby secured the evolutionary future of the species." — Sahlins, M. D. 1960 The origin of society. Scientific American 203(3): 76–87.
http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/sites/default/files/pdf/class_text_036.pdf v>
http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/sites/default/files/pdf/class_text_036.pdf
When God told them _not_ to eat the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil , did he know already that they would disobey him ?
The snake _tells_ Eve it’s ok to eat the forbidden fruit ? Can snakes talk ? Can snakes lie ?
Why would Darwin agree with God when God tells people not to take revenge against Cain for killing Abel ? Why would Darwin agree with this advice to our species to raise our species fitness ?
Did the first humans earn their living by the sweat of their brow ?
_________________- What is an iconographic sign in _semiotics_ and as Professor Brown has defined it in class ?
What is a different meaning of “ iconography” than my definition above ?
Sunday, November 27, 2022
The new bill expands a ban on what authorities call “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors, established by legislation dubbed the “gay propaganda” law. It was adopted by the Kremlin in 2013 in an effort to promote “traditional values” in Russia.
This year, the lawmakers moved to ban spreading such information to people aged 18 and older.
The bill was approved in the third and final reading on Thursday by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. It will go next to the upper house, the Federation Council, and then to President Vladimir Putin, whose signature will give it legal force.
The new bill outlaws all advertising, media and online resources books, films and theater productions deemed to contain such propaganda,a concept loosely defined in the bill. The 2013 ban was often enacted against any depictions of same-sex unions and used as a tool to crack down on LGBTQ rights groups and activists.
Violations are punishable by fines. If committed by non-residents, they can lead to their expulsion from Russia. The fines range from 100,000 to 2 million rubles ($1,660-$33,000). For some violations, foreigners could face 15 days’ detention prior to expulsion.
The bill does not make violations a criminal offense. Russian law stipulates that the criminal code can be amended only through an independent bill. Some lawmakers have suggested they favor such a measure.
Russia explicitly outlawed same-sex marriages in 2020 by adopting amendments to the country's Constitution that, among other things, stipulated that the “institution of marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”
Sociologist and activist Frances Fox Piven warned the US about getting complacent after the midterms. "I don't think this fight over elemental democracy is over, by any means," Piven told the Guardian. She added that there is still a chance that the US could become a "fascist country.
"I don't think this fight over elemental democracy is over, by any means," Piven told the Guardian.
She added that there is still a chance that the US could become a "fascist country."
A veteran sociologist and activist has warned that the US is still on the path to becoming a fascist country.
In an interview with The Guardian published on Thursday, Frances Fox Piven — an academic once targeted and threatened by far-right figures — warned that Americans should not get complacent after the midterms, where a widely-anticipated red wave for the Republican Party failed to materialize. The GOP, though, did take control of the House.
"I don't think this fight over elemental democracy is over, by any means," Piven told The Guardian. "The United States was well on the road to becoming a fascist country – and it still can become a fascist country."
The idea that America could come under fascist rule has been discussed, sometimes with reference to former President Donald Trump. For instance, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen warned in October that Trump is a standard bearer for corrupt dictator wannabes" and a "poster boy for fascism."
Piven is not the only academic who has predicted a fascist tilt to American politics in the future.
In January, noted political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon warned that American democracy could collapse if Trump wins in 2024. In an op-ed in The Globe and Mail, Homer-Dixon, who describes himself as a "scholar of violent conflict," warned that the US is becoming "increasingly ungovernable." He also predicted that the US could "descend into civil war" if it continues on its current path.
While the 2022 election results mean the Democratic Party retains control of the Senate, Piven cautioned that there are many things still in place that might lead America down the path to fascism.
"There is the crazy mob, MAGA; an elite that is oblivious to what is required for political stability; and a grab-it-and-run mentality that is very strong, very dangerous," Piven told The Guardian.
"I was very frightened about what would happen in the election, and it could still happen," she added.
Piven added that in the years to come, there will be "vengeance politics" and attacks on President Joe Biden from the right wing — particularly in a Republican-controlled Congress.
"The MAGA mob is not a majority of the American population by any stretch of the imagination, but the fascist mob don't have to be the majority to set in motion the kinds of policies that crush democracy," she added.
Read the original article on Business Insider
James Suzman is an anthropologist and the author of Affluence Without Abundance: The disappearing world of the Bushmen published by Bloomsbury in 2017.
James Suzman is an anthropologist and the author of Affluence Without Abundance: The disappearing world of the Bushmen published by Bloomsbury in 2017. He is the nephew of Janet Suzman and great-nephew of Helen Suzman. He is based in Cambridge, UK.
Early life and education Edit
Suzman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and educated at Michaelhouse. He graduated with an MA (Hons) in social anthropology from the University of St Andrews in 1993. He was awarded a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh in 1996.
Career Edit
Suzman was the first social anthropologist to work in Namibia's eastern Omaheke among Southern Ju/'hoansi, where he exposed the brutal marginalisation of San people who had lost their lands to white cattle ranchers and pastoralist Herero people.[1][2]
In 1998 Suzman was appointed to lead the landmark study, "The Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa", based on an ACP/EU resolution.[3][4][5]
Suzman later led an assessment by Minority Rights Group International to assess how Namibia's ethnic minorities had fared in the first ten years of Namibian Independence. The subsequent report was published in 2002. Emerging during period of political upheaval in Namibia, it led to calls for the better protection of ethnic minorities in Namibia.[6][7][8] The Namibian Government rejected the report's findings and the President, Sam Nujoma, accused Suzman of amplifying "ethnic tensions".[9]
In 2001, Suzman was awarded the Smuts Commonwealth Fellowship in African Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Suzman later established a program to establish opportunities for Hai//om San to benefit from tourism revenues in Etosha National Park.[10] He was also involved in the dispute that arose as a result of the illegal relocation of Gwi and Gana San from Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He was highly critical of the Botswana Government's actions and, later, Survival International's campaign, which he claimed undermined ongoing negotiations between the Botswana Government and a coalition of organisations supporting the evicted San.[11][12][13] Survival International, in turn, criticised Suzman and members of the negotiating team led by Ditshwanelo, The Botswana Centre for Human Rights of complicity with the Botswana Government.[14][15][16]
In 2007, Suzman joined De Beers, where, as global head of public affairs, he developed the company's award-winning sustainability functions.[17] He resigned in 2013.
In 2013 Suzman and Jimmy Wales teamed up with Lily Cole to launch Impossible.com at the Cambridge Union.[citation needed] In the same year he was invited to deliver the second Protimos Lecture at the Parliament Chamber of London's Inner Temple.[18]
Publications Edit
Suzman has published widely on San and other issues in academic journals, magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times.[19] In 2017 he published Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen.
Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, was published in September 2020.[20][21]
References Edit
^ "Bushmen @ National Geographic Magazine". Ngm.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ Witness to the Persecution, Sunday Times Magazine, 1 November 1998 ^ "An Introduction to the Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa" (PDF). Lac.org.na. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia" (PDF). Lac.org.na. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Local News: San caught in a trap". The Namibian. 5 November 2001. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "NSHR calls on Govt to recognise all minorities". The Namibian. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "San-volk geniet volle erkenning - Politiek En Nasionale Nuus". Republikein.com.na. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "San worse off than at Independence says new report on minorities". The Namibian. 18 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Authors of San report'surprised' by Nujoma's hostile reaction". The Namibian. 1 August 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Namibia: How the Bushmen found their soul | The Times & The Sunday Times". Thetimes.co.uk. 25 May 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Kalahari conundrums, James Suzman Before Farming 2002/3_4". Before Farming. 2003 (2): 1–10. 2003. doi:10.3828/bfarm.2003.2.14. ^ "A future beyond Survival?". Mg.co.za. 14 December 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ Botswana: Diamonds or Development, New African, June 2003 ^ "IRIN | Tensions heightened over fate of Basarwa". Irinnews.org (in French). 31 October 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Kalahari conundrums, James Suzman Before Faming 2002/3-4" (PDF). Unl.edu. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "De Beers wrong about Bushman evictions". Survival International. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "De Beers Overall Winner of Sustainability Reporting Awards". Idexonline.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Why work so hard?". Financial Times. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Sympathy for a Desert Dog - the New York Times". Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2017. ^ Suzman J., 2020, Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-1526604996 ^ Suzman, J. (2020). Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-0500-9. Retrieved 22 October 2020. External links
https://youtu.be/P4SDBVaUboc
Early life and education Edit
Suzman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and educated at Michaelhouse. He graduated with an MA (Hons) in social anthropology from the University of St Andrews in 1993. He was awarded a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh in 1996.
Career Edit
Suzman was the first social anthropologist to work in Namibia's eastern Omaheke among Southern Ju/'hoansi, where he exposed the brutal marginalisation of San people who had lost their lands to white cattle ranchers and pastoralist Herero people.[1][2]
In 1998 Suzman was appointed to lead the landmark study, "The Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa", based on an ACP/EU resolution.[3][4][5]
Suzman later led an assessment by Minority Rights Group International to assess how Namibia's ethnic minorities had fared in the first ten years of Namibian Independence. The subsequent report was published in 2002. Emerging during period of political upheaval in Namibia, it led to calls for the better protection of ethnic minorities in Namibia.[6][7][8] The Namibian Government rejected the report's findings and the President, Sam Nujoma, accused Suzman of amplifying "ethnic tensions".[9]
In 2001, Suzman was awarded the Smuts Commonwealth Fellowship in African Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Suzman later established a program to establish opportunities for Hai//om San to benefit from tourism revenues in Etosha National Park.[10] He was also involved in the dispute that arose as a result of the illegal relocation of Gwi and Gana San from Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He was highly critical of the Botswana Government's actions and, later, Survival International's campaign, which he claimed undermined ongoing negotiations between the Botswana Government and a coalition of organisations supporting the evicted San.[11][12][13] Survival International, in turn, criticised Suzman and members of the negotiating team led by Ditshwanelo, The Botswana Centre for Human Rights of complicity with the Botswana Government.[14][15][16]
In 2007, Suzman joined De Beers, where, as global head of public affairs, he developed the company's award-winning sustainability functions.[17] He resigned in 2013.
In 2013 Suzman and Jimmy Wales teamed up with Lily Cole to launch Impossible.com at the Cambridge Union.[citation needed] In the same year he was invited to deliver the second Protimos Lecture at the Parliament Chamber of London's Inner Temple.[18]
Publications Edit
Suzman has published widely on San and other issues in academic journals, magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times.[19] In 2017 he published Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen.
Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, was published in September 2020.[20][21]
References Edit
^ "Bushmen @ National Geographic Magazine". Ngm.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ Witness to the Persecution, Sunday Times Magazine, 1 November 1998 ^ "An Introduction to the Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa" (PDF). Lac.org.na. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia" (PDF). Lac.org.na. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Local News: San caught in a trap". The Namibian. 5 November 2001. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "NSHR calls on Govt to recognise all minorities". The Namibian. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "San-volk geniet volle erkenning - Politiek En Nasionale Nuus". Republikein.com.na. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "San worse off than at Independence says new report on minorities". The Namibian. 18 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Authors of San report'surprised' by Nujoma's hostile reaction". The Namibian. 1 August 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Namibia: How the Bushmen found their soul | The Times & The Sunday Times". Thetimes.co.uk. 25 May 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Kalahari conundrums, James Suzman Before Farming 2002/3_4". Before Farming. 2003 (2): 1–10. 2003. doi:10.3828/bfarm.2003.2.14. ^ "A future beyond Survival?". Mg.co.za. 14 December 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ Botswana: Diamonds or Development, New African, June 2003 ^ "IRIN | Tensions heightened over fate of Basarwa". Irinnews.org (in French). 31 October 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Kalahari conundrums, James Suzman Before Faming 2002/3-4" (PDF). Unl.edu. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "De Beers wrong about Bushman evictions". Survival International. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "De Beers Overall Winner of Sustainability Reporting Awards". Idexonline.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Why work so hard?". Financial Times. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ "Sympathy for a Desert Dog - the New York Times". Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2017. ^ Suzman J., 2020, Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-1526604996 ^ Suzman, J. (2020). Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-0500-9. Retrieved 22 October 2020. External links
Economics Are as Bad as Their Ideas on Abortion Democrats have gone all in on abortion rights as the primary midterm message. But pro-corporate, trickle-down GOP policies are worth highlighting too.
https://prospect.org/politics/republican-ideas-on-economics-as-bad-as-ideas-on-abortion/
Democrats have settled on a national strategy for the midterm elections: portraying themselves as the party of reproductive rights, and Republicans as extremists who will take those rights away entirely. It’s a clever inversion of the normal dynamic of voters punishing the party in power in midterms, with the Supreme Court standing in as the party in power. The Court was the most disruptive government force of the past two years, and Democrats want voters to focus on what its rulings have stripped away. ADVERTISING Polling has shown shifts among independent voters when abortion rights are given the primary focus. I’ve seen in my own reporting that swing-district Democrats are turning to abortion as their main argument, and Lindsey Graham certainly helped them a great deal by filing a national abortion ban and vowing to pass it if Republicans gained power. Most of the advertisements from the Democratic side hit this issue, including one from former Rep. Max Rose of Staten Island intimating that Republican attacks on reproductive rights will cause women to die. Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly funding the abortion he wants to criminalize has only added fuel to the strategy. There are some hiccups to this approach—the one pro-life Democrat in Congress (Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas) benefiting from millions of dollars in Democratic campaign cash, for example—but it’s a powerful message that draws simple contrasts between the consequences of Democratic and Republican rule. You can absolutely see why Democrats are taking this path, especially after high-profile victories in special elections and votes in the previous few months. More from David Dayen Perhaps the biggest of those votes was in blood-red Kansas, where voters rejected an effort by far-right groups to change the state constitution to allow for abortion bans. That makes it even more remarkable that the Democratic governor of that state, Laura Kelly, is not leaning into abortion rights in her tight re-election campaign against Republican attorney general Derek Schmidt. Kelly has been focused instead on the economy. She’s run an ad about a Panasonic EV battery factory coming to De Soto, one about eliminating a tax on food that has brought down the cost of living marginally, and several about fully funding schools, defending them from the slash-and-burn project of Republicans like her predecessor Sam Brownback. Despite resounding support for abortion rights in Kansas, Republicans’ patently unpopular stance on the issue hasn’t factored into Kelly’s messaging. It’s weird to hear analysts say that sidestepping abortion is the right strategy for Kelly after an election that showed a large bipartisan majority in favor of retaining abortion rights in the same state. But polling in the race shows that three times as many voters care about the economy relative to abortion access. A similar prioritization is seen in national polling, where economic issues take precedence over social policy, and Republicans tend to be seen as more trustworthy. If there were no way to penetrate the Republican advantage on economic matters, maybe the focus on abortion would be seen as Democrats’ only recourse. But there is a story to tell here, based much like Graham’s proposed bill on what Republicans have explicitly said they would do if they got back into power. I haven’t really seen advertising that lays out this promise from Republicans to make prescription drug prices higher. The Inflation Reduction Act has a silly name, but if there is anything in the bill that will actually reduce the cost of living, it’s the measure to negotiate prescription drug prices with Medicare. I speculated that Democrats would have a hard time making the sale on this measure because negotiations don’t kick in until 2026, meaning Democrats would have to promote something that voters won’t feel in their lives for four years. But Republicans are helping out by vowing to repeal the law, on the record and in public. “If the courts haven’t gotten to it beforehand, yeah we’ve got to do our job and try to defend the Constitution,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) last month, intimating a constitutional right to protect a particular industry from bulk purchasing discounts. I haven’t really seen advertising that lays out this promise from Republicans to make prescription drug prices higher. President Biden has mentioned that Republicans would damage Medicare and Social Security if elected, using the blueprint of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (the Senate GOP campaign arm), as evidence. But it’s not just Scott. Don Bolduc, running for Senate in New Hampshire, advocated privatizing Medicare in August. Arizona Republican candidate Blake Masters has mused about privatizing Social Security, as has Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson. There have been scattered ads and mobilization about this, but nothing like the concerted effort around abortion. Many candidates have explained to me and other Prospect reporters that they are highlighting a Republican vote against oil company price-gouging in their campaigns. One broader point, made by frontliner Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) in a Los Angeles Times piece and others, is that Republicans have articulated no solutions to higher prices other than incoherent bellowing, while Democrats have put forward short-term and long-term proposals. (Levin mentioned the price-gouging bill.) Finally, there’s the signature Republican vow to defund the tax police, by repealing the $80 billion for IRS efforts in the Inflation Reduction Act. Polls show that voters detest the two-tiered tax system, one for the wealthy and large corporations and one for everyone else. Republicans are publicly determined to keep that going, and to reverse Democratic efforts to end that dynamic. Women’s health is obviously critically important, and highlighting the Republican position of criminalizing reproductive rights creates a larger perception of GOP policy aims as extreme. But so does reminding voters that Republicans continue to worship at the feet of trickle-down economics, with tax cuts and business deregulation seen as the answer to any possible problem. They want to remake America in the image of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, last seen furiously backpedaling from a tax-cut policy proposal that virtually collapsed its economic system. It’s worth not letting that get lost in the midterm shuffle. Knowledge Hub See all your topics 53 Knowledge Tracker 2022 Midterms 01000 Read Next Will Democratic Leaders Get Their Message Right? +52 September 29 Beyond the 12-Mile Limit +51 November 14 In Oregon, a Rural Populist Pushes the Grassroots to Its Limits +38 November 6 Knowledge Tracker measures how much of a topic you have covered and suggests articles to maximize your knowledge. Score out of 1000. See All Your Topics POWERED BY 2022 MIDTERMS POLITICS CONGRESS DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS ECONOMIC POLICY INFLATION REDUCTION ACT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS CORPORATE POWER MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE jsoad2xs.jpeg.jpe DAVID DAYEN David Dayen is the Prospect’s executive editor. His work has appeared in The Intercept, The New Republic, HuffPost, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more. His most recent book is ‘Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power.’ TAP depends on your support We’ve said it before: The greatest threat to democracy from the media isn’t disinformation, it’s the paywall. When you support The American Prospect, you’re supporting fellow readers who aren’t able to give, and countering the class system for information. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. Thank you! 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ON THE EVE OF THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CC CPRF GENNADY ZYUGANOV GAVE AN INTERVIEW TO THE POPULAR CHINESE NEWSPAPER GUANGMING RIBAO
ON THE EVE OF THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CC CPRF GENNADY ZYUGANOV GAVE AN INTERVIEW TO THE POPULAR CHINESE NEWSPAPER GUANGMING RIBAO
1 COMMENT
https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/on-the-eve-of-the-20th-congress-of-the-communist-party-of-china-the-chairman-of-the-cc-cprf-gennady-zyuganov-gave-an-interview-to-the-popular-chinese-newspaper-guangming-ribao
(SEE ALSO: Picturehttp://take10charles.blogspot.com/2022/11/socialism-is-superior-to-capitalism.html
Speaking at the International Forum of the CPC and Marxist Parties organized by the Communist Party of China you noted that the centenary of the CPC which was marked a year ago was an outstanding milestone in the history of the Chinese people which had great resonance in many countries. How do you assess the successes achieved by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China during the 101 years of revolutionary development?
During its more than a century-long existence the Communist Party of China has traversed a glorious path of creative endeavor. Following its initial goal and fulfilling its mission of social restructuring it managed to unite the popular masses and launch the struggle for a great resurgence of the country on the basis of the values of peace, labor, justice, humanism and progress. In this struggle it has achieved outstanding historic results. Over the past hundred years the CPC dramatically changed the destiny of the Chinese people. It liberated them from the shackles of semi-colonial dependence, national humiliation and economic enslavement and made the people masters of their land and their destiny. Under the leadership of the CPC the working people of China have driven out foreign invaders, established and consolidated their power and built a middle-income society. Today the Chinese look to the future with complete confidence and are making the history of their great Motherland in the new era. Within a historically brief space of time a massive leap has been made toward creating a high-tech industry and dramatically raising people’s living standards. Along with dynamic economic growth long-term stability of the Chinese society has been ensured. This is extremely important for the country as a whole and for each concrete individual. Socialist China is an indisputable leader on many key parameters.
The resolution of the VI Plenum of the CC CPC of the 19th Convocation “On the Main Achievements and the Historical Experience of the Party’s Hundred-Year Struggle” notes that by its successes the CPC has demonstrated the vital might of Marxism: “The scientific character and validity of Marxism have been fully tested in China. In China the popular and practical character of Marxism has been fully put into practice and its openness and modernity have been fully vindicated… Thanks to this an important turn in favor of socialism has taken place on the world scale in the historical evolution and rivalry between the socialist and capitalist ideologies and social systems.”
Almost ten years have passed since Comrade Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. What do you think about how China has been led during this period in terms of politics, economics, security, culture and international cooperation?
Comrade Xi Jinping is an outstanding statesman of our time. In terms of the scale of influence on global processes his figure occupies a special place in the galaxy of the best known politicians who are constantly written about by the world mass media. Very much on our planet depends on the decisions being taken with his participation.
Xi Jinping is flesh of the flesh of the great Chinese people. His father, Xi Zhongxun, an honest man infinitely dedicated to the Party’s cause, stood at the sources of the revolutionary movement in China. He is a representative of the first generation of Chinese revolutionaries. He was among the founders and leaders of the revolutionary base in the liberated regions of the Shanxi and Gansu provinces and organizers of political work in the People’s Liberation Army of China, one of the pioneers of the policy of reform and openness. He has inherited the best qualities from his father. He continues to uphold his deep faith in the inevitable triumph of the ideals of labor, justice, humanism and progress and hence the ideals of socialism.
The ideas of Xi Jinping about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era actualize all the fundamental tenets of Marxism. Universal in character, they constitute a major innovative contribution to the development of the Marxist theory. Xi Jinping’s conceptual approaches provide an important key to the understanding of the ongoing processes in the world and explain why the PRC has made such a dramatic breakthrough toward new development horizons.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, following the path of deepening the policy of reform and openness, the CPC did away with poverty and built a middle-income society. It has scored real successes in ensuring all-round supremacy of law and compliance with strict party discipline. One of the key ingredients of the success of Xi Jinping’s policy has been the strengthening of the people’s faith in its own culture, without which it is impossible to implement the “Chinese dream.”
Contemporary political leaders bear huge responsibility for the destiny of the Earth and its inhabitants. State leaders of all countries should pass on the relay of peace to the following generations, energetically contribute to the conservation of the environment, and to the progress and prosperity of the world civilization.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the main Western countries are very remote from understanding this lofty mission. Being in thrall to racial and ethnic prejudice, they still see the planet as a source of colonial plunder and gain, as a vast “field of opportunities” for imperialistic expansion. Seeking to impose its hegemony on the rest of the world, the West is prepared to put the world on the brink of war with the use of the most lethal weapons.
The aggressive policy of the USA and its satellites brings pain and suffering to the peoples of the planet. Dangerous experiments of military bio-laboratories constitute a heinous crime against humanity and call for a resolute condemnation by the international community. Support of Fascism, escalation of the Ukraine conflict and encouragement of insane missile attacks of the Bandera followers on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant illustrate the inhumanity of the Western leaders’ policy and their utter disdain of the goals of sustainable development. Sabre-rattling off the shores of the PRC, the United States and its vassals merely demonstrate that they are capable of pursuing an absolutely destructive course. It is an openly terrorist policy! There is nothing humane or creative about it!
Speaking at the UN headquarters in Geneva in January 2017 Xi Jinping said that “the destiny of the world must be in the hands of all the countries, international rules should be written jointly by all the countries, the globalization issues should be resolved together and the results of development should be available to all.” He stressed that the idea of the common destiny of humankind embodies the loftiest ideals and China’s commitment to building a wonderful world. It reflects the hopes of the peoples for a new, peaceful and just order. That is why it has the sympathy and powerful support of a growing number of countries.
The CPRF has always come out against the globalists’ attempts to put the future of civilization under threat. Our clear-cut and unambiguous position on the recent events around Ukraine and Taiwan has been reflected in concrete steps and political statements of the party with calls for actions aimed at curbing the insanity of the Western “hawks,” establishment of lasting peace, and prevention of provocations with the use of nuclear and biological technologies.
You have repeatedly stressed that the Chinese communists do not simply develop the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, but set an example for the whole planet. Their experience takes on a universal character and merits profound discussion and study. You have noted that the Chinese comrades have brought out the fourth volume of the series of books devoted to Xi Jinping’s governance system. I have three volumes of this series and I hope to get the fourth volume in Russian.
The resolution “On the Main Achievements and the Historical Experience of the Hundred-Year Struggle of the Party” adopted by the VI Plenum of the CC CPC of the 19th convocation reads in part: “Xi Jinping’s thoughts about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era constitute modern Chinese Marxism, the Marxism of the 21st century, the quintessence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit, they mark a new leap in the Sinoization of Marxism.” What do you think of this conclusion?
Writing about socialist society in 1890 Friedrich Engels pointed out that it is not “something given once and for all.” And the great thinker stressed: “like any other social system it should be seen as subject to constant changes and transformations.”
The state system of any country depends directly on the level of its socio-economic development, the historical legacy, cultural traditions and the balance of social class forces. Socialism in China was born under certain conditions. It grew stronger in the confrontation with foreign invaders, in the struggle of the working people for freedom and independence. Its development involved difficult quests and the making of decisions that transformed the whole country.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a vivid manifestation of the social creativity of the Chinese Communist Party and people. The rapid development of your country has become a major achievement in the development of the human civilization. The PRC today has an advanced state system. It has institutional advantages and a huge potential for self-improvement. The properties and features Marxism has acquired in Chinese reality have determined the creative potential of this system.
Marx, Engels and Lenin have repeatedly stressed that the characteristics of the socialist social and economic system manifest themselves in the practice of socialist construction in each individual country. Life has vindicated these theoretical premises: a socio-economic system cannot be created according to a single template. Historical experience shows that transition to socialism calls for a combination of the fundamental ideas of Marxism-Leninism and the real state of affairs. As Deng Xiaoping pointed out, “the combination of the overall truth of Marxism-Leninism and the reality of a concrete country is the universal truth.”
Socialism in the PRC has colossal creative potential. It is based on a truly scientific theory and practical experience of the revolution, building and reform. Proceeding from the basic principles of Marxism, The CPC has created a socio-political system which takes into account the national realities of China, its historical tradition, the strength and wisdom of the people. The party has transformed its practical experience into systemic results whose fruitfulness has been felt by the country and seen by the whole world. This enables it to look to the future with confidence while implementing the main principles of scientific socialism and preserving the shining idiosyncrasy of national culture.
Could you comment on the current state of relations between Russia and China? How do you see Russia-China relations developing after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China?
I believe that the relations between Russia and China today are at a higher level than at any time during the past decades. It is not by chance that at the official level they are described as “relations of all-embracing partnership and strategic interaction.” There is no exaggeration in this assessment. The broad cooperation between China and Russia at the present stage is marked by intensive dynamism, common perception of the key world problems, a solid legal basis and active popular support of the course for a rapprochement between our countries.
The foundation of the current relations between Russia and China is very strong. It does not depend on short-term political expediency. Its key components are dynamic trade and economic relations and sustained mutual understanding on key issues on the international agenda, support of the UN and work to strengthen its role in world affairs. Moscow and Beijing have similar or identical positions on international security issues.
There is much that brings us together. Geographical, mental, historical and spiritual proximity. Shared views on the sources of global challenges and threats which are increasingly felt in the modern world.
On August 3, 2022 the Presidium of the CC CPRF came out with a Statement, “He Who Plays with Fire Will Burn Himself,” devoted to the situation around Taiwan. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, followed by a visit of members of the US Congress to Taipei, were steps that provoke confrontation between the USA and China. Such actions, aimed at sowing chaos in the Asia Pacific region, undermine international stability.
The actions of high-ranking Washington officials have highlighted the fact that the US ruling circles are captives of old neo-colonial prejudices. It looks as if Washington is set to continue behaving in this aggressive and provocative manner.
The CPRF has always pointed to Washington’s inadmissible behavior in the world arena.
Today the United States and its satellites are pursuing a policy of revising the results of World War II. With active US support justification and even heroization of Nazi criminals and their accomplices is taking place in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Strange voices of “experts” calling for a “reappraisal” of the World War II events in Asia are being increasingly heard. All this contradicts the historical truth and leads to the denial of the decisive role of the USSR and China in the Victory over German Nazism and Japanese militarism.
Today the question of recognition or non-recognition of the outcome of World War II has become one of the key topics on the international agenda. The USA is using it to try to destroy the existing world order, establish its hegemony by force, derive geopolitical dividends from the weakening of its growing rivals. I believe that one way of countering this at the legal level could be international legal recognition of the facts of genocide of the Soviet and Chinese peoples during World War II by Europe “united” under Hitler and militarist Japan.
Further, a legal assessment should be given of the actions of current state and political leaders who encourage Fascism and are complicit in the perpetration of crimes against peace and humanity. The chieftains of the Nazi Reich were indicted for just this kind of actions. I think a legal assessment of the crimes today could be given by an ad hoc international court similar to the Nuremberg tribunal.
We see all too well how the American imperialists build their policy of provocations. They are fostering Fascism and increasingly threatening biological and radiation security of the planet. In Europe Russia is the main US target. Hostilities are conducted against our country with the hands of its East European satellites, in the first place Bandera Ukraine. That is why the CPRF supports the special military operation to de-militarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. The success of this operation would mark an important step toward de-escalation in a vast region of the world.
The actions of American puppets cause great harm to world peace. Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries are salient examples of this in Europe. Their Russophobic policy, the course for severing historical links and escalation of the confrontation with Russia is in glaring contradiction to the interests of durable peace and security in the region. These actions, profoundly anti-people and anti-history, are extremely dangerous.
The pro-American regimes are pawns in the grand chess game being played by the United States. Their representatives are often used to stoke up international tensions, and that includes dirty provocations against Russia and China. Developments in Ukraine, the situation around Taiwan, the cobbling together of the AUKUS bloc, the blowing up of branches of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and much else demonstrate the growing involvement of American satellites in implementing Washington’s strategy. This is the result of the wish of the US ruling circles to “share responsibility” and use others’ resources to further their ends.
Destabilization of the situation in Central Asia is one of the key tasks of the US in redrawing the world political map. This task meets the interests of the US ruling circles which are committed to “twin containment of Russia and China.” The policy of “twin containment” of our countries can and must be effectively counter-acted. This is possible through close coordination and consolidation of efforts. It is exceedingly important for Russia and China to have a common approach to the problems of the region and to see eye-to-eye on matters of economic activity, information policy, defense and security.
The CPRF is strongly supportive of the course for an all-round rapprochement between Russia and China. We consider the broadening of cooperation between our countries to be an important prerequisite for tapping new opportunities. It cannot be ruled out that the need may arise in the near future to create a powerful economic and military-political bloc capable of being an alternative to the American model of globalization.
— Could you say a few words to the readers of Guangming Daily? What are your hopes for the development of friendship between the peoples of China and Russia? And what would you wish the people of China?
Your newspaper is very popular and highly respected in the People’s Republic of China. I am glad to be able to address your readers with the best wishes of success and peace, happiness and well-being.
In particular, I would like to express my hope and confidence that our fraternal peoples will jointly overcome the most acute challenges of the modern world. The historical process is so tortuous that we should all be “on our guard.” We should work persistently to strengthen our mutual understanding, to act together and win together!
The CPRF is preparing to mark the centenary of the formation of the USSR. Moving along the path of building socialism our country has achieved great successes which have an intransient significance for the whole human race. In 1917 Russia was the first to breach the international front of imperialism and embark on the building of a new society. Following this path under the leadership of the Communist Party the Soviet people have created the most advanced economy for that time, raised living standards, developed science and culture, vanquished Fascism and conquered outer space. In the 21st century the relay of victories and accomplishments has been confidently taken from the USSR by socialist China.
The Soviet experience has shown that it is impossible to effectively counteract the West without building up economic might, without strengthening the defense capability and without uniting the efforts of progressive forces on the planet.
It is only by working persistently to strengthen the unity of the Russian and Chinese people and build up our joint efforts in the struggle against the West’s neo-colonial aspirations that we can uphold he sovereignty of our countries. As Stalin would have said in a similar situation, we will either do it quickly, or we will be crushed.
The great legacy of our friendship is the best guarantee of the joint journey of our peoples toward a bright, just and happy future! Author
Communist party of the Russian Federation. Republished from Communist party of the Russian Federation. Archives October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 SHARE 1 COMMENT RED ROBBO11/1/2022 08:48:58 PM 'The ideas of Xi Jinping about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era actualize all the fundamental tenets of Marxism.'
Zyuganov, KPRF leader since 1993, said in a radio interview las with the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, that ‘the main slogan of communism – “He who does not work shall not eat” – is written in the Apostle Paul’s Second Epistle to the Thessalonians found in the New Testament. “We need to study the Bible,” Zyuganov concluded’ (Moscow Times, 2 September 2021). ‘He who does not work shall not eat.’ Compare this biblically-inspired Leninist distortion with the real thing: ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ (Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha programme, 1875). Also, the vanguardist Lenin again: ‘If socialism can only be realised when the intellectual development of all the people permits it, then we shall not see socialism for at least five hundred years’ (from a speech in November 1918 quoted by John Reed in Ten Days that Shook the World), compared with early socialist Flora Tristan: ‘the emancipation of the working class must be achieved by the working class itself’. REPLY Leave a Reply. DETAILS
https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/on-the-eve-of-the-20th-congress-of-the-communist-party-of-china-the-chairman-of-the-cc-cprf-gennady-zyuganov-gave-an-interview-to-the-popular-chinese-newspaper-guangming-ribao
(SEE ALSO: Picturehttp://take10charles.blogspot.com/2022/11/socialism-is-superior-to-capitalism.html
Speaking at the International Forum of the CPC and Marxist Parties organized by the Communist Party of China you noted that the centenary of the CPC which was marked a year ago was an outstanding milestone in the history of the Chinese people which had great resonance in many countries. How do you assess the successes achieved by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China during the 101 years of revolutionary development?
During its more than a century-long existence the Communist Party of China has traversed a glorious path of creative endeavor. Following its initial goal and fulfilling its mission of social restructuring it managed to unite the popular masses and launch the struggle for a great resurgence of the country on the basis of the values of peace, labor, justice, humanism and progress. In this struggle it has achieved outstanding historic results. Over the past hundred years the CPC dramatically changed the destiny of the Chinese people. It liberated them from the shackles of semi-colonial dependence, national humiliation and economic enslavement and made the people masters of their land and their destiny. Under the leadership of the CPC the working people of China have driven out foreign invaders, established and consolidated their power and built a middle-income society. Today the Chinese look to the future with complete confidence and are making the history of their great Motherland in the new era. Within a historically brief space of time a massive leap has been made toward creating a high-tech industry and dramatically raising people’s living standards. Along with dynamic economic growth long-term stability of the Chinese society has been ensured. This is extremely important for the country as a whole and for each concrete individual. Socialist China is an indisputable leader on many key parameters.
The resolution of the VI Plenum of the CC CPC of the 19th Convocation “On the Main Achievements and the Historical Experience of the Party’s Hundred-Year Struggle” notes that by its successes the CPC has demonstrated the vital might of Marxism: “The scientific character and validity of Marxism have been fully tested in China. In China the popular and practical character of Marxism has been fully put into practice and its openness and modernity have been fully vindicated… Thanks to this an important turn in favor of socialism has taken place on the world scale in the historical evolution and rivalry between the socialist and capitalist ideologies and social systems.”
Almost ten years have passed since Comrade Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. What do you think about how China has been led during this period in terms of politics, economics, security, culture and international cooperation?
Comrade Xi Jinping is an outstanding statesman of our time. In terms of the scale of influence on global processes his figure occupies a special place in the galaxy of the best known politicians who are constantly written about by the world mass media. Very much on our planet depends on the decisions being taken with his participation.
Xi Jinping is flesh of the flesh of the great Chinese people. His father, Xi Zhongxun, an honest man infinitely dedicated to the Party’s cause, stood at the sources of the revolutionary movement in China. He is a representative of the first generation of Chinese revolutionaries. He was among the founders and leaders of the revolutionary base in the liberated regions of the Shanxi and Gansu provinces and organizers of political work in the People’s Liberation Army of China, one of the pioneers of the policy of reform and openness. He has inherited the best qualities from his father. He continues to uphold his deep faith in the inevitable triumph of the ideals of labor, justice, humanism and progress and hence the ideals of socialism.
The ideas of Xi Jinping about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era actualize all the fundamental tenets of Marxism. Universal in character, they constitute a major innovative contribution to the development of the Marxist theory. Xi Jinping’s conceptual approaches provide an important key to the understanding of the ongoing processes in the world and explain why the PRC has made such a dramatic breakthrough toward new development horizons.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, following the path of deepening the policy of reform and openness, the CPC did away with poverty and built a middle-income society. It has scored real successes in ensuring all-round supremacy of law and compliance with strict party discipline. One of the key ingredients of the success of Xi Jinping’s policy has been the strengthening of the people’s faith in its own culture, without which it is impossible to implement the “Chinese dream.”
Contemporary political leaders bear huge responsibility for the destiny of the Earth and its inhabitants. State leaders of all countries should pass on the relay of peace to the following generations, energetically contribute to the conservation of the environment, and to the progress and prosperity of the world civilization.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the main Western countries are very remote from understanding this lofty mission. Being in thrall to racial and ethnic prejudice, they still see the planet as a source of colonial plunder and gain, as a vast “field of opportunities” for imperialistic expansion. Seeking to impose its hegemony on the rest of the world, the West is prepared to put the world on the brink of war with the use of the most lethal weapons.
The aggressive policy of the USA and its satellites brings pain and suffering to the peoples of the planet. Dangerous experiments of military bio-laboratories constitute a heinous crime against humanity and call for a resolute condemnation by the international community. Support of Fascism, escalation of the Ukraine conflict and encouragement of insane missile attacks of the Bandera followers on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant illustrate the inhumanity of the Western leaders’ policy and their utter disdain of the goals of sustainable development. Sabre-rattling off the shores of the PRC, the United States and its vassals merely demonstrate that they are capable of pursuing an absolutely destructive course. It is an openly terrorist policy! There is nothing humane or creative about it!
Speaking at the UN headquarters in Geneva in January 2017 Xi Jinping said that “the destiny of the world must be in the hands of all the countries, international rules should be written jointly by all the countries, the globalization issues should be resolved together and the results of development should be available to all.” He stressed that the idea of the common destiny of humankind embodies the loftiest ideals and China’s commitment to building a wonderful world. It reflects the hopes of the peoples for a new, peaceful and just order. That is why it has the sympathy and powerful support of a growing number of countries.
The CPRF has always come out against the globalists’ attempts to put the future of civilization under threat. Our clear-cut and unambiguous position on the recent events around Ukraine and Taiwan has been reflected in concrete steps and political statements of the party with calls for actions aimed at curbing the insanity of the Western “hawks,” establishment of lasting peace, and prevention of provocations with the use of nuclear and biological technologies.
You have repeatedly stressed that the Chinese communists do not simply develop the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, but set an example for the whole planet. Their experience takes on a universal character and merits profound discussion and study. You have noted that the Chinese comrades have brought out the fourth volume of the series of books devoted to Xi Jinping’s governance system. I have three volumes of this series and I hope to get the fourth volume in Russian.
The resolution “On the Main Achievements and the Historical Experience of the Hundred-Year Struggle of the Party” adopted by the VI Plenum of the CC CPC of the 19th convocation reads in part: “Xi Jinping’s thoughts about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era constitute modern Chinese Marxism, the Marxism of the 21st century, the quintessence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit, they mark a new leap in the Sinoization of Marxism.” What do you think of this conclusion?
Writing about socialist society in 1890 Friedrich Engels pointed out that it is not “something given once and for all.” And the great thinker stressed: “like any other social system it should be seen as subject to constant changes and transformations.”
The state system of any country depends directly on the level of its socio-economic development, the historical legacy, cultural traditions and the balance of social class forces. Socialism in China was born under certain conditions. It grew stronger in the confrontation with foreign invaders, in the struggle of the working people for freedom and independence. Its development involved difficult quests and the making of decisions that transformed the whole country.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a vivid manifestation of the social creativity of the Chinese Communist Party and people. The rapid development of your country has become a major achievement in the development of the human civilization. The PRC today has an advanced state system. It has institutional advantages and a huge potential for self-improvement. The properties and features Marxism has acquired in Chinese reality have determined the creative potential of this system.
Marx, Engels and Lenin have repeatedly stressed that the characteristics of the socialist social and economic system manifest themselves in the practice of socialist construction in each individual country. Life has vindicated these theoretical premises: a socio-economic system cannot be created according to a single template. Historical experience shows that transition to socialism calls for a combination of the fundamental ideas of Marxism-Leninism and the real state of affairs. As Deng Xiaoping pointed out, “the combination of the overall truth of Marxism-Leninism and the reality of a concrete country is the universal truth.”
Socialism in the PRC has colossal creative potential. It is based on a truly scientific theory and practical experience of the revolution, building and reform. Proceeding from the basic principles of Marxism, The CPC has created a socio-political system which takes into account the national realities of China, its historical tradition, the strength and wisdom of the people. The party has transformed its practical experience into systemic results whose fruitfulness has been felt by the country and seen by the whole world. This enables it to look to the future with confidence while implementing the main principles of scientific socialism and preserving the shining idiosyncrasy of national culture.
Could you comment on the current state of relations between Russia and China? How do you see Russia-China relations developing after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China?
I believe that the relations between Russia and China today are at a higher level than at any time during the past decades. It is not by chance that at the official level they are described as “relations of all-embracing partnership and strategic interaction.” There is no exaggeration in this assessment. The broad cooperation between China and Russia at the present stage is marked by intensive dynamism, common perception of the key world problems, a solid legal basis and active popular support of the course for a rapprochement between our countries.
The foundation of the current relations between Russia and China is very strong. It does not depend on short-term political expediency. Its key components are dynamic trade and economic relations and sustained mutual understanding on key issues on the international agenda, support of the UN and work to strengthen its role in world affairs. Moscow and Beijing have similar or identical positions on international security issues.
There is much that brings us together. Geographical, mental, historical and spiritual proximity. Shared views on the sources of global challenges and threats which are increasingly felt in the modern world.
On August 3, 2022 the Presidium of the CC CPRF came out with a Statement, “He Who Plays with Fire Will Burn Himself,” devoted to the situation around Taiwan. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, followed by a visit of members of the US Congress to Taipei, were steps that provoke confrontation between the USA and China. Such actions, aimed at sowing chaos in the Asia Pacific region, undermine international stability.
The actions of high-ranking Washington officials have highlighted the fact that the US ruling circles are captives of old neo-colonial prejudices. It looks as if Washington is set to continue behaving in this aggressive and provocative manner.
The CPRF has always pointed to Washington’s inadmissible behavior in the world arena.
Today the United States and its satellites are pursuing a policy of revising the results of World War II. With active US support justification and even heroization of Nazi criminals and their accomplices is taking place in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Strange voices of “experts” calling for a “reappraisal” of the World War II events in Asia are being increasingly heard. All this contradicts the historical truth and leads to the denial of the decisive role of the USSR and China in the Victory over German Nazism and Japanese militarism.
Today the question of recognition or non-recognition of the outcome of World War II has become one of the key topics on the international agenda. The USA is using it to try to destroy the existing world order, establish its hegemony by force, derive geopolitical dividends from the weakening of its growing rivals. I believe that one way of countering this at the legal level could be international legal recognition of the facts of genocide of the Soviet and Chinese peoples during World War II by Europe “united” under Hitler and militarist Japan.
Further, a legal assessment should be given of the actions of current state and political leaders who encourage Fascism and are complicit in the perpetration of crimes against peace and humanity. The chieftains of the Nazi Reich were indicted for just this kind of actions. I think a legal assessment of the crimes today could be given by an ad hoc international court similar to the Nuremberg tribunal.
We see all too well how the American imperialists build their policy of provocations. They are fostering Fascism and increasingly threatening biological and radiation security of the planet. In Europe Russia is the main US target. Hostilities are conducted against our country with the hands of its East European satellites, in the first place Bandera Ukraine. That is why the CPRF supports the special military operation to de-militarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. The success of this operation would mark an important step toward de-escalation in a vast region of the world.
The actions of American puppets cause great harm to world peace. Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries are salient examples of this in Europe. Their Russophobic policy, the course for severing historical links and escalation of the confrontation with Russia is in glaring contradiction to the interests of durable peace and security in the region. These actions, profoundly anti-people and anti-history, are extremely dangerous.
The pro-American regimes are pawns in the grand chess game being played by the United States. Their representatives are often used to stoke up international tensions, and that includes dirty provocations against Russia and China. Developments in Ukraine, the situation around Taiwan, the cobbling together of the AUKUS bloc, the blowing up of branches of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and much else demonstrate the growing involvement of American satellites in implementing Washington’s strategy. This is the result of the wish of the US ruling circles to “share responsibility” and use others’ resources to further their ends.
Destabilization of the situation in Central Asia is one of the key tasks of the US in redrawing the world political map. This task meets the interests of the US ruling circles which are committed to “twin containment of Russia and China.” The policy of “twin containment” of our countries can and must be effectively counter-acted. This is possible through close coordination and consolidation of efforts. It is exceedingly important for Russia and China to have a common approach to the problems of the region and to see eye-to-eye on matters of economic activity, information policy, defense and security.
The CPRF is strongly supportive of the course for an all-round rapprochement between Russia and China. We consider the broadening of cooperation between our countries to be an important prerequisite for tapping new opportunities. It cannot be ruled out that the need may arise in the near future to create a powerful economic and military-political bloc capable of being an alternative to the American model of globalization.
— Could you say a few words to the readers of Guangming Daily? What are your hopes for the development of friendship between the peoples of China and Russia? And what would you wish the people of China?
Your newspaper is very popular and highly respected in the People’s Republic of China. I am glad to be able to address your readers with the best wishes of success and peace, happiness and well-being.
In particular, I would like to express my hope and confidence that our fraternal peoples will jointly overcome the most acute challenges of the modern world. The historical process is so tortuous that we should all be “on our guard.” We should work persistently to strengthen our mutual understanding, to act together and win together!
The CPRF is preparing to mark the centenary of the formation of the USSR. Moving along the path of building socialism our country has achieved great successes which have an intransient significance for the whole human race. In 1917 Russia was the first to breach the international front of imperialism and embark on the building of a new society. Following this path under the leadership of the Communist Party the Soviet people have created the most advanced economy for that time, raised living standards, developed science and culture, vanquished Fascism and conquered outer space. In the 21st century the relay of victories and accomplishments has been confidently taken from the USSR by socialist China.
The Soviet experience has shown that it is impossible to effectively counteract the West without building up economic might, without strengthening the defense capability and without uniting the efforts of progressive forces on the planet.
It is only by working persistently to strengthen the unity of the Russian and Chinese people and build up our joint efforts in the struggle against the West’s neo-colonial aspirations that we can uphold he sovereignty of our countries. As Stalin would have said in a similar situation, we will either do it quickly, or we will be crushed.
The great legacy of our friendship is the best guarantee of the joint journey of our peoples toward a bright, just and happy future! Author
Communist party of the Russian Federation. Republished from Communist party of the Russian Federation. Archives October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 SHARE 1 COMMENT RED ROBBO11/1/2022 08:48:58 PM 'The ideas of Xi Jinping about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era actualize all the fundamental tenets of Marxism.'
Zyuganov, KPRF leader since 1993, said in a radio interview las with the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, that ‘the main slogan of communism – “He who does not work shall not eat” – is written in the Apostle Paul’s Second Epistle to the Thessalonians found in the New Testament. “We need to study the Bible,” Zyuganov concluded’ (Moscow Times, 2 September 2021). ‘He who does not work shall not eat.’ Compare this biblically-inspired Leninist distortion with the real thing: ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ (Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha programme, 1875). Also, the vanguardist Lenin again: ‘If socialism can only be realised when the intellectual development of all the people permits it, then we shall not see socialism for at least five hundred years’ (from a speech in November 1918 quoted by John Reed in Ten Days that Shook the World), compared with early socialist Flora Tristan: ‘the emancipation of the working class must be achieved by the working class itself’. REPLY Leave a Reply. DETAILS
Anthropology 152 Discussion 16
November 16, 2022
Anthropology 152
Discussion 16
Next semester, Spring 2023, I will be teaching 2 Anthropology 153 classes:
Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 45531 - ANT 153 – 501
Class 1:00 pm - 3:18 pm MW Eastern 306 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023
Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 36448 - ANT 153 – 603 – Northwest Campus
Class 11:00 am - 1:18 pm TR General Arts Bldg G116 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023
Clarification of two items on Test 2
Iconographic signs vs Iconography
The definition of iconographic signs that I gave in class is a drawing or picture of what it represents. A picture or drawing of a dog is not a dog BUT, it resembles or looks like or is similar to a dog.
A definition of iconography that I believe some students got from books articles or the internet is a bit different than this. ( I am not criticizing going to other sources on the word “iconography” or “iconographic”) . For example, one student gave as an example a dove, olive branch or “V” fingers representing peace. In this class these are actually _symbolic_ signs, because a dove or olive branch or fingers in a “v” shape are not Peace _and_ they do not resemble or nor look like nor are similar to Peace. They are using something to represent something they are not , and do not _resemble_ what they represent. This is also true of a “heart” representing “love” . A heart is not physically similar to love. In old thought the feeling of love was thought to be located in the heart , not the brain, but hate is also located in the heart in the idea.
Use of a lamb to represent Jesus may be a bit more complex. A lamb representing Jesus is actually a _sacrificed_ lamb representing Jesus as a sacrifice of God. So , the _sacrifice_ of the lamb does resemble or look like or is similar to the _sacrifice_ of Jesus. It is a metaphor or analogy. So, the sacrifice can be said to be an iconographic sign of the sacrifice.
A)Random genetic mutation relative to the adaptive problem it solves vs B) Random meaning every gene in the genome has equal chance of mutating
A )randomness is the in the context of Darwinian _evolutionary adaptation to a problem in the environment_. Mutations that solve adaptive problems are _not caused by the adaptive problem they solve. Therefore they are random relative to the adaptive problem they solve.
B) randomness is not specifically in the context of a Darwinian adaptive problem. These mutations occur regardless of whether or not the species is dealing with an adaptive problem in its environment.
The LaMarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics is a false hypothesis. It doesn’t happen. But it the acquired characteristic ( longer neck for the giraffe acquired in its lifetime) is not random relative to the adaptive problem it solves (food too high up for short neck); it is caused by the problem it solves.
With language and culture , humans have a non-random LaMarckian -LIKE mechanism of adaptation; not exactly the same as LaMarck’s false hypothesis, but giving the problem solving its own solution aspect of LaMarck’s hypothesis, therefore LIKE , but not identical to LaMarck’s hypothesis.
Thus language and culture give humans a more efficient adaptive mechanism than all other animals, because , we have a mechanism wherein potentially adaptive problems cause their own solution - Homo erectus inventing control of fire being caused by colder climate, and the colder climate problem causing its own solution, for example. Other species must rely on a genetic mutation for , maybe, more fur, which is not caused by the colder climate, but on randomly, coincidently, by happenstance arises in the colder climate
Ultimate test of Darwinian fitness is population growth or shrinking
On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 10:35 AM Charles Brown wrote:
November 16, 2022
Anthropology 152
Discussion 16 Next semester, Spring 2023, I will be teaching 2 Anthropology 153 classes: Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 45531 - ANT 153 – 501 Class 1:00 pm - 3:18 pm MW Eastern 306 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023 Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 36448 - ANT 153 – 603 – Northwest Campus Class 11:00 am - 1:18 pm TR General Arts Bldg G116 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023 Clarification of two items on Test 2 Iconographic signs vs Iconography The definition of iconographic signs that I gave in class is a drawing or picture of what it represents. A picture or drawing of a dog is not a dog BUT, it resembles or looks like or is similar to a dog. A definition of iconography that I believe some students got from books articles or the internet is a bit different than this. ( I am not criticizing going to other sources on the word “iconography” or “iconographic”) . For example, one student gave as an example a dove, olive branch or “V” fingers representing peace. In this class these are actually _symbolic_ signs, because a dove or olive branch or fingers in a “v” shape are not Peace _and_ they do not resemble or nor look like nor are similar to Peace. They are using something to represent something they are not , and do not _resemble_ what they represent. This is also true of a “heart” representing “love” . Use of a lamb to represent Jesus may be a bit more complex. A lamb representing Jesus is actually a _sacrificed_ lamb representing Jesus as a sacrifice of God. So , the _sacrifice_ of the lamb does resemble or look like or is similar to the _sacrifice_ of Jesus. It is a metaphor or analogy. So, the sacrifice can be said to be an iconographic sign of the sacrifice. A)Random genetic mutation relative to the adaptive problem it solves vs B) Random meaning every gene in the genome has equal chance of mutating A )randomness is the in the context of Darwinian _evolutionary adaptation to a problem in the environment_. Mutations that solve adaptive problems are _not caused by the adaptive problem they solve. Therefore they are random relative to the adaptive problem they solve. B) randomness is not specifically in the context of a Darwinian adaptive problem. These mutations occur regardless of whether or not the species is dealing with an adaptive problem in its environment. The LaMarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics is a false hypothesis. It doesn’t happen. But it the acquired characteristic ( longer neck for the giraffe acquired in its lifetime) is not random relative to the adaptive problem it solves (food too high up for short neck); it is caused by the problem it solves. With language and culture , humans have a non-random LaMarckian -LIKE mechanism of adaptation; not exactly the same as LaMarck’s false hypothesis, but giving the problem solving its own solution aspect of LaMarck’s hypothesis, therefore LIKE , but not identical to LaMarck’s hypothesis. Thus language and culture give humans a more efficient adaptive mechanism than all other animals, because , we have a mechanism wherein potentially adaptive problems cause their own solution - Homo erectus inventing control of fire being caused by colder climate, and the colder climate problem causing its own solution, for example. Other species must rely on a genetic mutation for , maybe, more fur, which is not caused by the colder climate, but on randomly, coincidently, by happenstance arises in the colder climate
Class 11:00 am - 1:18 pm TR General Arts Bldg G116 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023
Clarification of two items on Test 2
Iconographic signs vs Iconography
The definition of iconographic signs that I gave in class is a drawing or picture of what it represents. A picture or drawing of a dog is not a dog BUT, it resembles or looks like or is similar to a dog.
A definition of iconography that I believe some students got from books articles or the internet is a bit different than this. ( I am not criticizing going to other sources on the word “iconography” or “iconographic”) . For example, one student gave as an example a dove, olive branch or “V” fingers representing peace. In this class these are actually _symbolic_ signs, because a dove or olive branch or fingers in a “v” shape are not Peace _and_ they do not resemble or nor look like nor are similar to Peace. They are using something to represent something they are not , and do not _resemble_ what they represent. This is also true of a “heart” representing “love” . A heart is not physically similar to love. In old thought the feeling of love was thought to be located in the heart , not the brain, but hate is also located in the heart in the idea.
Use of a lamb to represent Jesus may be a bit more complex. A lamb representing Jesus is actually a _sacrificed_ lamb representing Jesus as a sacrifice of God. So , the _sacrifice_ of the lamb does resemble or look like or is similar to the _sacrifice_ of Jesus. It is a metaphor or analogy. So, the sacrifice can be said to be an iconographic sign of the sacrifice.
A)Random genetic mutation relative to the adaptive problem it solves vs B) Random meaning every gene in the genome has equal chance of mutating
A )randomness is the in the context of Darwinian _evolutionary adaptation to a problem in the environment_. Mutations that solve adaptive problems are _not caused by the adaptive problem they solve. Therefore they are random relative to the adaptive problem they solve.
B) randomness is not specifically in the context of a Darwinian adaptive problem. These mutations occur regardless of whether or not the species is dealing with an adaptive problem in its environment.
The LaMarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics is a false hypothesis. It doesn’t happen. But it the acquired characteristic ( longer neck for the giraffe acquired in its lifetime) is not random relative to the adaptive problem it solves (food too high up for short neck); it is caused by the problem it solves.
With language and culture , humans have a non-random LaMarckian -LIKE mechanism of adaptation; not exactly the same as LaMarck’s false hypothesis, but giving the problem solving its own solution aspect of LaMarck’s hypothesis, therefore LIKE , but not identical to LaMarck’s hypothesis.
Thus language and culture give humans a more efficient adaptive mechanism than all other animals, because , we have a mechanism wherein potentially adaptive problems cause their own solution - Homo erectus inventing control of fire being caused by colder climate, and the colder climate problem causing its own solution, for example. Other species must rely on a genetic mutation for , maybe, more fur, which is not caused by the colder climate, but on randomly, coincidently, by happenstance arises in the colder climate
Ultimate test of Darwinian fitness is population growth or shrinking
On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 10:35 AM Charles Brown
Anthropology 152
Discussion 16 Next semester, Spring 2023, I will be teaching 2 Anthropology 153 classes: Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 45531 - ANT 153 – 501 Class 1:00 pm - 3:18 pm MW Eastern 306 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023 Introduction to Physical Anthropology - 36448 - ANT 153 – 603 – Northwest Campus Class 11:00 am - 1:18 pm TR General Arts Bldg G116 Jan 31, 2023 - May 08, 2023 Clarification of two items on Test 2 Iconographic signs vs Iconography The definition of iconographic signs that I gave in class is a drawing or picture of what it represents. A picture or drawing of a dog is not a dog BUT, it resembles or looks like or is similar to a dog. A definition of iconography that I believe some students got from books articles or the internet is a bit different than this. ( I am not criticizing going to other sources on the word “iconography” or “iconographic”) . For example, one student gave as an example a dove, olive branch or “V” fingers representing peace. In this class these are actually _symbolic_ signs, because a dove or olive branch or fingers in a “v” shape are not Peace _and_ they do not resemble or nor look like nor are similar to Peace. They are using something to represent something they are not , and do not _resemble_ what they represent. This is also true of a “heart” representing “love” . Use of a lamb to represent Jesus may be a bit more complex. A lamb representing Jesus is actually a _sacrificed_ lamb representing Jesus as a sacrifice of God. So , the _sacrifice_ of the lamb does resemble or look like or is similar to the _sacrifice_ of Jesus. It is a metaphor or analogy. So, the sacrifice can be said to be an iconographic sign of the sacrifice. A)Random genetic mutation relative to the adaptive problem it solves vs B) Random meaning every gene in the genome has equal chance of mutating A )randomness is the in the context of Darwinian _evolutionary adaptation to a problem in the environment_. Mutations that solve adaptive problems are _not caused by the adaptive problem they solve. Therefore they are random relative to the adaptive problem they solve. B) randomness is not specifically in the context of a Darwinian adaptive problem. These mutations occur regardless of whether or not the species is dealing with an adaptive problem in its environment. The LaMarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics is a false hypothesis. It doesn’t happen. But it the acquired characteristic ( longer neck for the giraffe acquired in its lifetime) is not random relative to the adaptive problem it solves (food too high up for short neck); it is caused by the problem it solves. With language and culture , humans have a non-random LaMarckian -LIKE mechanism of adaptation; not exactly the same as LaMarck’s false hypothesis, but giving the problem solving its own solution aspect of LaMarck’s hypothesis, therefore LIKE , but not identical to LaMarck’s hypothesis. Thus language and culture give humans a more efficient adaptive mechanism than all other animals, because , we have a mechanism wherein potentially adaptive problems cause their own solution - Homo erectus inventing control of fire being caused by colder climate, and the colder climate problem causing its own solution, for example. Other species must rely on a genetic mutation for , maybe, more fur, which is not caused by the colder climate, but on randomly, coincidently, by happenstance arises in the colder climate
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Socialism is superior to capitalism.
From: Bill Totten
Date: November 22, 2022 at 7:59:30 AM EST
To: a-list
Subject: [a-list] US Versus China Covid Deaths
Reply-To: shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp
US Versus China Covid Deaths
A Symptom of Diseased Capitalism
by Finian Cunningham
https://strategic-culture.org (November 19 2022)
SEE ALSO :http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2022/11/10312022on-eve-of-20th-congress-of.html
https://strategic-culture.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cunningham1911-930x520.jpg
(c) Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The horrendous death toll in the US and Europe has been caused not so much by a virus but by an underlying disease of capitalist psychopathy.
( socio-pathy).
The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is now well over 1.1 million. New mass infections and the proliferation of immune-resistant virus variants indicate the death toll will continue to rise as the third winter of the pandemic hits.
Europe faces a similarly bleak outlook of mounting sickness and deaths from the novel coronavirus known as SARS-Cov-2, which has undergone numerous mutations since the world pandemic was declared in early 2020. This is while Western governments pretend that the pandemic is over and adopt a policy of their populations "living with Covid".
Let's put these figures in perspective. The worldwide total deaths from the disease are estimated at 6.6 million, according to {1} the authoritative Johns Hopkins University. The US death toll of 1.1 million (and counting) represents over 16 percent of the world's total even though its national population is only about 4.2 percent of the globe.
China's deaths from COVID-19 are around 5,200, according to the same database. That is an astounding three orders of magnitude smaller. Even though China has a population nearly four times that of the United States, its mortality figure is less than 0.5 percent of the U.S.
China's population of 1.4 billion people is about 18.5 percent of the globe. That means its death toll from COVID-19 is approximately 0.00006 percent of the global deaths from the disease. Again, the US Covid death toll is nearly 16 percent of the world's.
Surely, any rational-thinking person would want to explore the reasons for such a vast disparity. But not, it seems, in the West where the corporate media's function is to stifle critical thinking.
The stark and shocking contrast between these US and China figures is down to the difference between capitalism and socialism.
The United States as with its capitalist European allies has prioritized the imperative of private profit over public health - by a long shot.
Western governments have rushed to contrive a return to "normal" business as usual. They have relied on a vaccine-only solution which is shown to be futile as the pandemic rebounds across their populations.
An aggravating factor in the West has been the denialism about the realities of the COVID-19 disease. Many Americans in the ilk of former President Donald Trump disparage the virus as a hoax and view the wearing of face masks and getting vaccinated as an infringement on their "rights to individual freedom".
The headlong rush to restore capitalist profits as well as divisive politics in the West have conspired to militate against implementing a coherent and effective public health management strategy to eradicate the coronavirus.
By contrast, China has consistently implemented a zero-Covid policy. China's socialist government has allocated financial and human resources to pursue a comprehensive strategy for eradicating the disease. This has involved engaging in lockdowns of cities where outbreaks occur, mass tracking and tracing using high-technology telecommunications, and widely available public testing for the disease. Chinese people have also shown commendable rational and ethical thinking about protecting others and working collectively for the common good to defeat a lethal disease.
Quarantine practices in China certainly can be inconvenient for normal daily life and travel. (I spent 10 days in quarantine during a recent trip to China.) But the upshot is that it works to contain and mitigate the disease. The minor death toll from the pandemic relative to the United States and Europe demonstrates the success of China's protection of public health.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that the cornerstone of his country's zero-Covid policy is the protection of public health. Short-term commercial considerations are secondary. On a social and long-term economic timeline, the Chinese policy is more viable as well as ethical. As the Western ongoing death and suffering from the pandemic illustrate, the priority of capitalist profit-making is self-defeating at the social level.
There are sound scientific reasons why capitalism is failing over the pandemic. The so-called "living with Covid" attitude of Western governments is allowing the virus to persist and thereby mutate into more lethal variants. What is even more disturbing, the newer sub-variants such as Omicron BA.5 are showing a high level of immune resistance. After spending billions of dollars and euros to benefit private pharmaceutical companies to develop Covid vaccines these vaccines may well become redundant.
New research published {2} earlier this month also shows that reinfection with COVID-19 is leading to greater long-term illness and mortality from other diseases of the heart, lungs, and other organs. Reinfections appear to be increasing across the United States and Europe as the pandemic persists.
A Reuters report on the study said: Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with Covid just once. They also had elevated risks for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, diabetes, mental health, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders, according to a report published in Nature Medicine."
China has succeeded spectacularly in controlling COVID-19 and protecting its population precisely because its government has adhered to socialist policies. It is rather absurd, if not obscene, that Western media have tended to deprecate {3} China over its "zero-Covid policy" because purportedly this is not emulating Western capitalism.
The horrendous, unnecessary death toll in the United States and Europe has been caused not so much by a virus but by an underlying disease of capitalist psychopathy. The callous, deliberate killing of people from dereliction of duty to conduct a humane and ethical health policy is the despicable, criminal result.
Don't blame the virus. Blame capitalism and its political minions who willingly sacrifice their people on the altar of private profit. The system is anti-human and irrational from any basic moral point of view. It is a failure as a social organizing principle more than ever at this moment in history.
This diseased political system is also why the United States and its European "partners" would rather fund a bloody war in Ukraine against Russia or over Taiwan against China - rather than actually feed, house and care for their own increasingly desperate people.
Links:
{1} https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
{2} https://news.yahoo.com/repeat-covid-riskier-first-infection-160323961.html
{3} https://fair.org/home/us-media-searched-for-crisis-at-china-party-congress/
____ Finian Cunningham is a former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. See also https://strategic-culture.org/contributors/finian-cunningham/#articles./
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2022/11/19/us-versus-china-covid-deaths-symptom-diseased-capitalism/
https://billtotten.wordpress.com/ https://www.ashisuto.co.jp--- To unsubscribe:
List help:
From: Bill Totten
US Versus China Covid Deaths
A Symptom of Diseased Capitalism
by Finian Cunningham
https://strategic-culture.org (November 19 2022)
SEE ALSO :http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2022/11/10312022on-eve-of-20th-congress-of.html
https://strategic-culture.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cunningham1911-930x520.jpg
(c) Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The horrendous death toll in the US and Europe has been caused not so much by a virus but by an underlying disease of capitalist psychopathy.
( socio-pathy).
The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is now well over 1.1 million. New mass infections and the proliferation of immune-resistant virus variants indicate the death toll will continue to rise as the third winter of the pandemic hits.
Europe faces a similarly bleak outlook of mounting sickness and deaths from the novel coronavirus known as SARS-Cov-2, which has undergone numerous mutations since the world pandemic was declared in early 2020. This is while Western governments pretend that the pandemic is over and adopt a policy of their populations "living with Covid".
Let's put these figures in perspective. The worldwide total deaths from the disease are estimated at 6.6 million, according to {1} the authoritative Johns Hopkins University. The US death toll of 1.1 million (and counting) represents over 16 percent of the world's total even though its national population is only about 4.2 percent of the globe.
China's deaths from COVID-19 are around 5,200, according to the same database. That is an astounding three orders of magnitude smaller. Even though China has a population nearly four times that of the United States, its mortality figure is less than 0.5 percent of the U.S.
China's population of 1.4 billion people is about 18.5 percent of the globe. That means its death toll from COVID-19 is approximately 0.00006 percent of the global deaths from the disease. Again, the US Covid death toll is nearly 16 percent of the world's.
Surely, any rational-thinking person would want to explore the reasons for such a vast disparity. But not, it seems, in the West where the corporate media's function is to stifle critical thinking.
The stark and shocking contrast between these US and China figures is down to the difference between capitalism and socialism.
The United States as with its capitalist European allies has prioritized the imperative of private profit over public health - by a long shot.
Western governments have rushed to contrive a return to "normal" business as usual. They have relied on a vaccine-only solution which is shown to be futile as the pandemic rebounds across their populations.
An aggravating factor in the West has been the denialism about the realities of the COVID-19 disease. Many Americans in the ilk of former President Donald Trump disparage the virus as a hoax and view the wearing of face masks and getting vaccinated as an infringement on their "rights to individual freedom".
The headlong rush to restore capitalist profits as well as divisive politics in the West have conspired to militate against implementing a coherent and effective public health management strategy to eradicate the coronavirus.
By contrast, China has consistently implemented a zero-Covid policy. China's socialist government has allocated financial and human resources to pursue a comprehensive strategy for eradicating the disease. This has involved engaging in lockdowns of cities where outbreaks occur, mass tracking and tracing using high-technology telecommunications, and widely available public testing for the disease. Chinese people have also shown commendable rational and ethical thinking about protecting others and working collectively for the common good to defeat a lethal disease.
Quarantine practices in China certainly can be inconvenient for normal daily life and travel. (I spent 10 days in quarantine during a recent trip to China.) But the upshot is that it works to contain and mitigate the disease. The minor death toll from the pandemic relative to the United States and Europe demonstrates the success of China's protection of public health.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that the cornerstone of his country's zero-Covid policy is the protection of public health. Short-term commercial considerations are secondary. On a social and long-term economic timeline, the Chinese policy is more viable as well as ethical. As the Western ongoing death and suffering from the pandemic illustrate, the priority of capitalist profit-making is self-defeating at the social level.
There are sound scientific reasons why capitalism is failing over the pandemic. The so-called "living with Covid" attitude of Western governments is allowing the virus to persist and thereby mutate into more lethal variants. What is even more disturbing, the newer sub-variants such as Omicron BA.5 are showing a high level of immune resistance. After spending billions of dollars and euros to benefit private pharmaceutical companies to develop Covid vaccines these vaccines may well become redundant.
New research published {2} earlier this month also shows that reinfection with COVID-19 is leading to greater long-term illness and mortality from other diseases of the heart, lungs, and other organs. Reinfections appear to be increasing across the United States and Europe as the pandemic persists.
A Reuters report on the study said: Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with Covid just once. They also had elevated risks for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, diabetes, mental health, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders, according to a report published in Nature Medicine."
China has succeeded spectacularly in controlling COVID-19 and protecting its population precisely because its government has adhered to socialist policies. It is rather absurd, if not obscene, that Western media have tended to deprecate {3} China over its "zero-Covid policy" because purportedly this is not emulating Western capitalism.
The horrendous, unnecessary death toll in the United States and Europe has been caused not so much by a virus but by an underlying disease of capitalist psychopathy. The callous, deliberate killing of people from dereliction of duty to conduct a humane and ethical health policy is the despicable, criminal result.
Don't blame the virus. Blame capitalism and its political minions who willingly sacrifice their people on the altar of private profit. The system is anti-human and irrational from any basic moral point of view. It is a failure as a social organizing principle more than ever at this moment in history.
This diseased political system is also why the United States and its European "partners" would rather fund a bloody war in Ukraine against Russia or over Taiwan against China - rather than actually feed, house and care for their own increasingly desperate people.
Links:
{1} https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
{2} https://news.yahoo.com/repeat-covid-riskier-first-infection-160323961.html
{3} https://fair.org/home/us-media-searched-for-crisis-at-china-party-congress/
____ Finian Cunningham is a former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. See also https://strategic-culture.org/contributors/finian-cunningham/#articles./
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2022/11/19/us-versus-china-covid-deaths-symptom-diseased-capitalism/
https://billtotten.wordpress.com/ https://www.ashisuto.co.jp--- To unsubscribe:
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
GOP split widens
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3744045-these-prominent-republicans-are-speaking-out-against-trumps-2024-run/
Former President Trump’s announcement last week that he’ll run for the White House a third time has divided the Republican party.
While some of his staunchest supporters in Congress celebrated the announcement, other key GOP figures are distancing themselves from the campaign and others are saying outright that they won’t vote for Trump again.
Here are the Republicans publicly pulling away from — and even speaking out against — Trump’s 2024 reelection run:
Former President Trump’s announcement last week that he’ll run for the White House a third time has divided the Republican party.
While some of his staunchest supporters in Congress celebrated the announcement, other key GOP figures are distancing themselves from the campaign and others are saying outright that they won’t vote for Trump again.
Here are the Republicans publicly pulling away from — and even speaking out against — Trump’s 2024 reelection run:
Monday, November 21, 2022
Belief in unseen is science also
On the "true believer" criticism, one often hears from Christians that _faith_ (belief ) is the belief in things _unseen_.
Actually, that's also true of natural science . Most of what scientists do is develop belief in things they can't _see_ such as atoms, extinct species, gravity, global climate change, viruses, et al.
Furthermore, natural scientists rigorously, rigidly and _dogmatically_ adhere to the scientific theories that have been proven within their discipline such as Newton's LAWS, LAWS thermodynamic , Einstein's LAWS, Charles LAW and Boyles LAW in chemistry. Natural science is big collection of natural laws which scientists adhere to like religious catechism ! With mathematical rigor in many cases.
So, as a SCIENCE, Marxism has basic principles , theories and laws ( see. _Capital_ ) that are rigorously adhered to by MARXISTS. This does _ not_ make Marxists's politics a religion, but rather it is critical to it being a science.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Charles Brown
Socialism overcomes and preserves capitalism
This is our goal : " the transformation of capitalistic private
property, _already practically resting on socialized production_, into
socialized property. " We can preserve practically all of that is
already practically resting on socialized production and overcome the
private property with socialized property so that property relations
match productive relations.
David I think the west is eventually (in the next generation) going
to actually embrace socialism, and from there, it will likely develop
and become full-blown communism. That's my two cents.//// I have
substantial agreement with you on this. I think more in terms of
objective tendencies within capitalism to prepare the ground for
socialism, such as Lenin's reference to monopoly as proto-socialism
still within capitalist relations of production. (See _Imperialism:
the Highest Stage of Capitalism_) Also, things like socialized
medicine in Canada or Scandinavia or France. Healthcare would be
substantially the same in socialism, as far as I see. Socialism is a
supercession or sublation of capitalism, meaning it overcomes and
preserves capitalism. Some of what is capitalism now will be preserved
as socialism.
Karl Marx: "One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this
centralization, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few,
develop, on an ever-extending scale, the cooperative form of the
labour process, the conscious technical application of science, the
methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the
instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in
common, the economizing of all means of production by their use as
means of production of combined, socialized labour, the entanglement
of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the
international character of the capitalistic regime. Along with the
constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital, who usurp
and monopolize all advantages of this process of transformation, grows
the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation;
but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class
always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organized by
the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself. The
monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production,
which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it.
Centralization of the means of production and socialization of labour
at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their
capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of
capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are
expropriated."/////////
/////////// comment CB : "the cooperative form of the labour process,
the conscious technical application of science, the methodical
cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of
labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the
economizing of all means of production by their use as means of
production of combined, socialized labour, the entanglement of all
peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the
international character of the capitalistic regime..." and
"Centralization of the means of production and socialization of labour
" are all socialist forms developed in monopoly capitalism that are
preserved in some sense in socialism.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm
CB on Marxist morality and ethics
Charles Brown I'd say some ethics or morality in Marxism is in the
Theses on Feuerbach's emphasis on social practice; doubly social with
other people and "to" other people. Ethics or morality has to do with
how we treat each other, how we act toward each other. So, when Marx
calls for social practical-critical activity in Thesis 1 , he is
making an ethical or moral demand on himself
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////"The
chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism – that of Feuerbach
included – is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is conceived only
in the form of the object or of contemplation, but not as sensuous
human activity, practice, not subjectively. Hence, in
contradistinction to materialism, the active side was developed
abstractly by idealism – which, of course, does not know real,
sensuous activity as such.
Feuerbach wants sensuous objects, really distinct from the thought
objects, but he does not conceive human activity itself as objective
activity. Hence, in The Essence of Christianity, he regards the
theoretical attitude as the only genuinely human attitude, while
practice is conceived and fixed only in its dirty-judaical
manifestation. Hence he does not grasp the significance of
“revolutionary”, of “practical-critical”, activity."
http://www.marxists.org/.../works/1845/theses/theses.htm
Theses on Feuerbach
www.marxists.org
Theses on Feuerbach
8 mins · Edited · Like · Remove Preview
Charles Brown Eleven is more clearly ethical. We could say "change the
world " _for the better_. In late 20th Century parlance, "Save the
World" Thesis Eleven XI
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the
point is to change it
http://www.marxists.org/.../works/1845/theses/theses.htm
Theses on Feuerbach
www.marxists.org
Theses on Feuerbach
11 mins · Edited · Like · Remove Preview
Charles Brown Marxist morality is that of Social Being, Species-Being
,even. I would say the following is the beginning of more personal and
one-on-one ethics in Marxism. I call it
what's-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander feminism; which I
proudly subscribe to. Oh and please forgive the "essentialism",but I'm
a critic of post-modernism and post-structuralism, myself (giggles): "
In the approach to woman as the spoil and hand-maid of communal lust
is expressed the infinite degradation in which man exists for himself,
for the secret of this approach has its unambiguous, decisive, plain
and undisguised expression in the relation of man to woman and in the
manner in which the direct and natural species-relationship is
conceived. The direct, natural, and necessary relation of person to
person is the relation of man to woman. In this natural
species-relationship man’s relation to nature is immediately his
relation to man, just as his relation to man is immediately his
relation to nature – his own natural destination. In this
relationship, therefore, is sensuously manifested, reduced to an
observable fact, the extent to which the human essence has become
nature to man, or to which nature to him has become the human essence
of man. From this relationship one can therefore judge man’s whole
level of development. From the character of this relationship follows
how much man as a species-being, as man, has come to be himself and to
comprehend himself; the relation of man to woman is the most natural
relation of human being to human being. It therefore reveals the
extent to which man’s natural behaviour has become human, or the
extent to which the human essence in him has become a natural essence
– the extent to which his human nature has come to be natural to him.
This relationship also reveals the extent to which man’s need has
become a human need; the extent to which, therefore, the other person
as a person has become for him a need – the extent to which he in his
individual existence is at the same time a social "being. "
https://www.marxists.org/.../works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm
Private Property and Communism, Marx, 1844
www.marxists.org
Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
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Doğukan Şerifsson
20 hrs
What are some major works on Asiatic mode of production and Oriental
Despotism? Preferably analysis that is up to date...or should these
"orthodox" takes on Asia be disregarded as vulgar generalizations?
Also, writing on Ottoman Empire. Any "recent" Marxist scholarly work
on Ottoman Empire?
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Dennis Etler I think that the concept has merit, but perhaps not in
its original formulation.
14 hours ago · Like
Doğukan Şerifsson Indeed, there are some ideas to draw but it is not a
law of history set in stone. It is quiet outdated and simplistic. For
each case there needs to be a specifically tailored study seeing
things in their unique "relations". As a general guide and
abstraction, it is useful though.
14 hours ago · Like
Dennis Etler Mao sort of used the concept when he characterized China
as semi-feudal. Parts of the Asiatic mode of production would entail
State monopoly and control of whole industries, the land tenure system
based on property rights, a mercantilist foreign trade ...See More
14 hours ago · Like · 1
Karl Horner ernest mandel also uses the concept
12 hours ago · Like
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Enaa Doug
16 hrs
Victor Serge: On the Borders of Victory and Defeat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxexlwz6qZ8
Victor Serge: On the Borders of Victory and Defeat
Communist historian Doug Enaa Greene lectures on the activist,
historian and novelist Victor Serge (1890-1947) at the Center for
Marxist Education. Serge was...
youtube.com|By dwgthed
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Paul Oviedo
17 hrs · Mexico City, Mexico
Gracias
Alguien dijo, "en cada hombre existe una revolución."
See Translation
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Ramesh Gaddam likes this.
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Subhajit Roy
April 5 at 12:11pm · Durgapur, India
Can anyone give me the link or share a free PDF version of The Mind of
the Market by Jerry Muller?
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Asainar Asu http://lib.freescienceengineering.org/view.php?id=352459
23 hours ago · Like · 1
Subhajit Roy Lots of thanks.... I was searching for this book for long....
18 hours ago · Like
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OLDER POSTS
David Faunt Le Roy
Yesterday at 5:13am
Anyone know of any SW or CW of James P. Cannon? I've been accumulating
his books but can't find anything like the wide MIA selections.
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Diane Dayton Fauntleroy Anderson likes this.
Einde O'Callaghan The MIA collection is the largest collection of
Cannon's writings - since the organisation he founded and led (the US
SWP) has abandoned the politics he represented it's most unlikely that
they'll ever publish a collected or selected works!
Yesterday at 5:32am · Like · 1
David Faunt Le Roy True. Pathfinder doesn't carry most of his work.
Yesterday at 5:35am · Like
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Einde O'Callaghan
Yesterday at 3:37am
On April 6th in history:
In 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath asserting independence of Scotland
was signed by a number of Scottish noblemen.
In 1528 Albrecht Dürer, German painter, died.
In 1712 the New York Slave Revolt began near Broadway.
In 1773 James Mill, Scottish historian, economist and philosopher, was born....
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Einde O'Callaghan Small Moses Hess archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/hess/index.htm
M.I.A. Library: Moses Hess
www.marxists.org
In History, in the life of the spirit, results mean nothing; it is
only the carrying out of legacies that is effective. (Philosophy of
the Act, 1843)
Yesterday at 3:58am · Like · 2
Einde O'Callaghan Small Oscar Wilde archive:
http://www.marxists.org/ref.../archive/wilde-oscar/index.htm
The Oscar Wilde Internet Archive
www.marxists.org
Archive of Oscar Wilde
Yesterday at 4:01am · Like · 2
David Faunt Le Roy I wonder what the Olympics of 1916 were like!
Yesterday at 5:15am · Like
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Political Prince
April 2 at 4:52pm
My able thinkers and comarates, my question is about the idea of
"revolution" does marx meant that the proletariat should use arms and
armination to kill all the class of bourgeosie, or how did he
explained it?
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Reece Lawton Marx and Lenin applied a materialist analysis to their
situation, and developed their Communism (opposed to the
petit-bourgeois communism of Weitling) from the working class. The
Communist Party and militants must organically arise from the class
strug...See More
April 5 at 12:00pm · Like · 2
Alois Blucher What I speak of is leaders organizing the workers, not a
mythic band of whinners.
Get it straight.
April 5 at 12:03pm · Like · 1
Political Prince Ideas clashing themselves, reservuer of
knowlede...... Thanks to all
Yesterday at 3:11am · Like · 1
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Einde O'Callaghan
March 28 at 1:58am · Edited
On March 28 in history:
In 1584 Ivan the Terrible, first Russian Tsar, died.
In 1760 Thomas Clarkson, British anti-slavery campaigner, was born.
In 1854 France joined Britain in declaring war on Russia.
In 1868 Maxim Gorky, Russian writer and revolutionary activist, was born....
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Einde O'Callaghan Not according to the site I consulted - but I'll check again
April 5 at 7:54pm · Like
Alois Blucher Yeah, because maybe you misread something because
Tsars=emperors (stems from Roman Caesar) and Ivan was the first
Russian Tsar.
April 5 at 7:55pm · Like
Einde O'Callaghan You're right! The source I used seems to have got it
wrong - I'll correct it!
Yesterday at 2:13am · Like · 1
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Jay Rothermel via Thomas Baughman
April 5 at 9:31pm
Bertolt Brecht speaks in the House Committee on Un-American Activities
Bertolt Brecht 1947/48 bei einem Verhör im House Committee on
Un-American Activities...
youtube.com|By Rongart
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Older Posts
CB several comments on religion, atheism and Marxism
Павел Лысенко There is no afterlife, there is no heaven, no hell, no archangels, no judge, all you have is your life, now politically seize it!
3 hrs · Unlike · 1 Jacob Stuart It may sound contradictory but isn't stopping the religious being marxists lowing our support count. You CAN be an economic-Marxist and be a theist. 3 hrs · Like
Victor Alarcón Calderón We are not against them, but i would not let religion stop the revolution. As long as they are not a problem to us, they can be on our side. 3 hrs · Edited · Like
Einde O'Callaghan To be quite frank: I don't think that the majority of the people who will make the revolution and build communist society will be Marxists! 3 hrs · Unlike · 5
Charles Brown Marxists can be Martin Luther King style Christians. 2 hrs · Like · 1
Charles Brown "The history of early Christianity has notable points of resemblance with the modern working-class movement. Like the latter, Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people: it first appeared as the religion of slaves and emancipated slaves...See More On the History of Early Christianity www.marxists.org First Published: In Die Neue Zeit, 1894-95;Translated: by the Institute of Marxi...See More
2 hrs · Edited · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown
http://books.google.com/.../The_urgency_of_Marxist... The urgency of Marxist-Christian dialogue books.google.com
2 hrs · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown Why should Marxist be an atheist? Just because of the fact that the religion is the opium of people? Why can't Christianity exist in communism?//// In your _Marxism_ you must be an atheist, because the theory and practice of Marxism is based on materialism or naturalism: no belief in supernatural or immortal beings influencing the class struggle. Marx gives a lot of compliments to religion in his famous statement which says religion is the opium of the people. Marxists when they are following Marx , however, note, that his critique of religion is not so much that it is the opium of the people. That is something of a positive service it does, like aspirin. He doesn't really seem to emphasize that it deters them from revolutionary activity by quieting them. His main critique is that Man makes God; God doesn't make Man. Man makes God in his own image, anthropomorphises him; God doesn't make man in his own image. I interpret this as an urging of "Man", humans , to do what they expect God to do. In other words, get up and get at it, get active, change the world.
2 hrs · Like · 1 Charles Brown For Germany, the criticism of religion has been essentially completed, and the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.
The profane existence of error is compromised as soon as its heavenly oratio pro aris et focis [“speech for the ...See More
Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right 1844 www.marxists.org Marx's, Draft Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, which was never completed
2 hrs · Like · 2 · Remove Preview Charles Brown I think it might be helpful of Marxists ,at least in certain linguistic groups, refer to themselves alternatively as naturalists and materialists, because "materialist" has a connotation of "materialistic" or money grubbing and "idealist" doesn't connotate philosophical idealism but high minded pursuit of worthy goals. So, how about historical and dialectical naturalists ? 1 hr · Like · 1
Charles Brown Naturalism (philosophy) Naturalism is "the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the world; (occas.) the idea or belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world."[1] Adherents of naturalism (i.e., naturalists) assert that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws.
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_%28philosophy%29 Naturalism (philosophy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org Naturalism is "the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural ...See More
1 hr · Like · Remove Preview Dialectical Mysticist How can we know for certain that there is no supernatural if we can not see such thing. How logical it is to believe in nonexistence of something that is outside of your perception. Well, i can't be sure that an alien is standing behind me right now, because I can't be sure whether there is something or not, It can't be seen. That is why I think that atheism and naturalism is as dogmatic as Idealism and theismk 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism
darwin The great basic question of all philosophy, especially of more recent philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being. From the very early times when men, still completely ignorant of the structure of their own bodies, under the stimulus of dream apparitions (1) came to believe that their thinking and sensation were not activities of their bodies, but of a distinct soul which inhabits the body and leaves it at death — from this time men have been driven to reflect about the relation between this soul and the outside world. If, upon death, it took leave of the body and lived on, there was no occassion to invent yet another distinct death for it. Thus arose the idea of immortality, which at that stage of development appeared not at all as a consolation but as a fate against which it was no use fighting, and often enough, as among the Greeks, as a positive misfortune. The quandry arising from the common universal ignorance of what to do with this soul, once its existence had been accepted, after the death of the body, and not religious desire for consolation, led in a general way to the tedious notion of personal immortality. In an exactly similar manner, the first gods arose through the personification of natural forces. And these gods in the further development of religions assumed more and more extramundane form, until finally by a process of abstraction, I might almost say of distillation, occurring naturally in the course of man’s intellectual development, out of the many more or less limited and mutually limiting gods there arose in the minds of men the idea of the one exclusive God of the monotheistic religions.
Thus the question of the relation of thinking to being, the relation of the spirit to nature — the paramount question of the whole of philosophy — has, no less than all religion, its roots in the narrow-minded and ignorant notions of savagery ( This is bad anthropology. "Savages" were hardly ignorant and truly not savages; the "civilized" were the actual savages, which Engels learned some in writing _The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State_.) But this question could for the first time be put forward in its whole acuteness, could achieve its full significance, only after humanity in Europe had awakened from the long hibernation of the Christian Middle Ages. The question of the position of thinking in relation to being, a question which, by the way, had played a great part also in the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, the question: which is primary, spirit or nature — that question, in relation to the church, was sharpened into this: Did God create the world or has the world been in existence eternally?
The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other — and among the philosophers, Hegel, for example, this creation often becomes still more intricate and impossible than in Christianity — comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism.
These two expressions, idealism and materialism, originally signify nothing else but this; and here too they are not used in any other sense. What confusion arises when some other meaning is put to them will be seen below. 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist And If we want workers to have logical and clear idea of the existence of supernatural, not fanatic attitude towards this, they should be agnostics, our philosophy should be agnosticism and not atheism, because workers are progressive class, proletariat should hold the right attitude towards anything, and atheism can't be such because it is illogical and a priori dogma
1 hr · Edited · Like Charles Brown Engels: "From the very early times when men, still completely ignorant of the structure of their own bodies, under the stimulus of dream apparitions (1) came to believe that their thinking and sensation were not activities of their bodies, but of a distinct soul which inhabits the body and leaves it at death — from this time men have been driven to reflect about the relation between this soul and the outside world. If, upon death, it took leave of the body and lived on, there was no occassion to invent yet another distinct death for it. " Comment by Charles: I think the concept of an immortal soul is more likely to develop out of so-called ancestor worship, as ancestors are treated as still living , so if they are still living , the living might go on living after death. Ancestor "worship" is central to culture , the anthropological concept, and culture is transgenerational or dead generations living on in some natural , not supernatural, sense in future generations. I have dubbed culture "natural soul" ( as opposed to supernatural soul). Various peoples may have conceived of soul naturally , too. They might understand that the bodies of their ancestors were dead , but their ideas, beliefs, myths, stories and language , now termed culture by anthropology, etc lived on in the new generations continuing the customs and traditions and family names and kinship. Stone Age societies were founded very intensely , more than we can understand, on their kinship systems; people ordered their living relationships in the foraging bands based on relations to common ancestors who are dead.systems, people order their living relationships based on relations to common ancestors who are dead. 1 hr · Edited · Like
Liam Murcia It seems rather odd to criticize the alleged "alienation" and "unscientific" character inherent in "all religions" (without contrasting religious beliefs that have been useful to push for emancipation, for example certain trends in Catholicism) and "prove it" by quoting texts by Marxists as if they were scriptures. C'mon people.
1 hr · Like Charles Brown Dialectical Mysticist And If we want workers to have logical and clear idea of the existence of supernatural, not fanatic attitude towards this, they should be agnostics, our philosophy should be agnosticism and not atheism, because workers are progressive class, proletariat should hold the right attitude towards anything, and atheism can't be such because it is illogical and a priori/////// Engels would beg to differ with you in Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism (smiles) 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist Murcia Since religion is still religion after the death of Marx and Engels, their opinions on religion is still valid since the religion has not lost his essence 1 hr · Like
Liam Murcia Didn't say ot wasn't valid, just not an standard to qualify as a "good Marxist". 1 hr · Like Liam Murcia Didn't say ot wasn't valid, just not an standard to qualify as a "good Marxist". 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist " Engels would beg to differ with you in Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism (smiles)" sorry, don't understand what you mean, comrade. 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Hume and Kant are the famous agnostics. Engels calls agnostics "shame-faced" materialists: "In addition, there is yet a set of different philosophers — those who question the possibility of any cognition, or at least of an exhaustive cognition, of the world. To them, among the more modern ones, belong Hume and Kant, and they played a very important role in philosophical development. What is decisive in the refutation of this view has already been said by Hegel, in so far as this was possible from an idealist standpoint. The materialistic additions made by Feuerbach are more ingenious than profound. The most telling refutation of this as of all other philosophical crotchets is practice — namely, experiment and industry. If we are able to prove the correctness of our conception of a natural process by making it ourselves, bringing it into being out of its conditions and making it serve our own purposes into the bargain, then there is an end to the Kantian ungraspable “thing-in-itself”. The chemical substances produced in the bodies of plants and animals remained just such “things-in-themselves” until organic chemistry began to produce them one after another, whereupon the “thing-in-itself” became a thing for us — as, for instance, alizarin, the coloring matter of the madder, which we no longer trouble to grow in the madder roots in the field, but produce much more cheaply and simply from coal tar. For 300 years, the Copernican solar system was a hypothesis with 100, 1,000, 10,000 to 1 chances in its favor, but still always a hypothesis. But then Leverrier, by means of the data provided by this system, not only deduced the necessity of the existence of an unknown planet, but also calculated the position in the heavens which this planet must necessarily occupy, and when [Johann] Galle really found this planet [Neptune, discovered 1846, at Berlin Observatory], the Copernican system was proved. If, nevertheless, the neo-Kantians are attempting to resurrect the Kantian conception in Germany, and the agnostics that of Hume in England (where in fact it never became extinct), this is, in view of their theoretical and practical refutation accomplished long ago, scientifically a regression and practically merely a shamefaced way of surreptitiously accepting materialism, while denying it before the world." 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist oh i guess now 1 hr · Like
Einde O'Callaghan Application of Ockham's Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is the one you should start with - in other words, we should start from perceptible explanations and only reject them if they can't explain the phenomenon. As regards the existence of...See More 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist What about pragmatic attitude like pascal's wager? 1 hr · Like
Einde O'Callaghan Many people may adopt this attitude, but personally I tend to side with Laplace who when asked if he believed in god replied: "I have no need of that hypothesis." 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Liam Murcia and "prove it" by quoting texts by Marxists as if they were scriptures. C'mon people./// Notice below my comment is longer than what I quote and is a critical comment. That is the complete opposite of quoting Engels like scripture. You are ...See More
1 hr · Edited · Like Dialectical Mysticist God is improbable, but there is little chances that he exists. and if he is there...which is unlikely but still probable....Pascals wager becomes rational...doesn't it? 1 hr · Like Liam Murcia I wasn't refering to you Charles. 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown I'd say the main reason Marxists must be atheists in analysis of the class struggle is that the bourgeoisie are atheists or their effective activity in class struggle and their political actions to keep the working class ruled and oppressed are based i...See More 1 hr · Edited · Like
Charles Brown
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=782458945098207&set=a.597736973570406.1073741825.275373239140116&type=1&theater Mobile Uploads By: Working class atheists 1 hr · Like · Remove Preview
Charles Brown I don't see anybody else referring to Marx as scripture either. We need more extended quoting of Marx by leftists , not less. 1 hr · Like
Liam Murcia I see quite a few before you, quoting, as I said "Marxists" (not only "Marx"). Quotes are important and we should make use of the wealth of theory we have access to, but they shouldn't constitute the final word, don't you agree? 42 mins · Edited · Like Charles Brown Some of it is the "final" word _for now_. Like E = mc squared is the final word for now. Many of Marx's formula are scientific laws, like natural laws, until capitalism is over. Not religious dogma, but scientific truth. Like Darwin's law of natural history, Marx has the laws of capitalist accumulation down very precisely. So, we treat them rigorously. Notice Marx treats laws as tendencies. They are also like jurisprudential laws. Of course, people break laws, but in the main they are followed and give rise to empirical generalizations of the facts of people's behavior , conduct , activities. 21 mins · Like
Charles Brown "The capitalist mode of appropriation, the result of the capitalist mode of production, produces capitalist private property. This is the first negation of individual private property, as founded on the labour of the proprietor. But capitalist production begets, _with the inexorability of a law of Nature_ ( emphasis added -CB), its own negation. It is the negation of negation. This does not re-establish private property for the producer, but gives him individual property based on the acquisition of the capitalist era: i.e., on cooperation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of production. " https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter Thirty Two www.marxists.org Capital Vol. I : Chapter Thirty-Two (Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation)
20 mins · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown Notice natural science works on a metaphor from jurisprudence, "law": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_science
Laws of science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org The laws of science or scientific laws are statements that describe, predict, an...See More
18 mins · Edited · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown "Every beginning is difficult, holds in all sciences. To understand the first chapter, especially the section that contains the analysis of commodities, will, therefore, present the greatest difficulty. That which concerns more especially the analysis of the substance of value and the magnitude of value, I have, as much as it was possible, popularised. [1] The value-form, whose fully developed shape is the money-form, is very elementary and simple. Nevertheless, the human mind has for more than 2,000 years sought in vain to get to the bottom of it all, whilst on the other hand, to the successful analysis of much more composite and complex forms, there has been at least an approximation. Why? Because the body, as an organic whole, is more easy of study than are the cells of that body. In the analysis of economic forms, moreover, neither microscopes nor chemical reagents are of use. The force of abstraction must replace both. But in bourgeois society, the commodity-form of the product of labour — or value-form of the commodity — is the economic cell-form. To the superficial observer, the analysis of these forms seems to turn upon minutiae. It does in fact deal with minutiae, but they are of the same order as those dealt with in microscopic anatomy.
With the exception of the section of value-form, therefore, this volume cannot stand accused on the score of difficulty. I presuppose, of course, a reader who is willing to learn something new and therefore to think for himself.
The physicist either observes physical phenomena where they occur in their most typical form and most free from disturbing influence, or, wherever possible, he makes experiments under conditions that assure the occurrence of the phenomenon in its normality. In this work I have to examine the capitalist mode of production, and the conditions of production and exchange corresponding to that mode. Up to the present time, their classic ground is England. That is the reason why England is used as the chief illustration in the development of my theoretical ideas. If, however, the German reader shrugs his shoulders at the condition of the English industrial and agricultural labourers, or in optimist fashion comforts himself with the thought that in Germany things are not nearly so bad; I must plainly tell him, “De te fabula narratur!” [It is of you that the story is told. – Horace]
Intrinsically, it is not a question of the higher or lower degree of development of the social antagonisms that result from the natural laws of capitalist production. It is a question of these laws themselves, of these tendencies working with iron necessity towards inevitable results. The country that is more developed industrially only shows, to the less developed, the image of its own future. " 14 mins · Like
Charles Brown My main criticism of Nietzsche ( and it's a big one from the standpoint of Marxism) is that in the Geneology of Morals I think it is he basically becomes the champion of all the ruling classes that he knows of from all times ! He is sort of the anti-Marx explicitly, pro-ruling class anti-ruled class in all the modes of production in the history as a history of class struggles. So, Nietzsche's famous atheism of "God is dead" is the voice of Ruling Class atheism from all times. We should treat it as an expose of this fact. Some where in a class conscious sector of people, all ruling classes must have atheists or they couldn't successfully rule. Can't rule if you really believe in Zeus , thus Plato, atheist. , etc. Many philosophers are sort of secret atheists for the ruling classes down through history. On the other hand, they accumulate a lot of objective knowledge because they are materialists in some ways.
Павел Лысенко There is no afterlife, there is no heaven, no hell, no archangels, no judge, all you have is your life, now politically seize it!
3 hrs · Unlike · 1 Jacob Stuart It may sound contradictory but isn't stopping the religious being marxists lowing our support count. You CAN be an economic-Marxist and be a theist. 3 hrs · Like
Victor Alarcón Calderón We are not against them, but i would not let religion stop the revolution. As long as they are not a problem to us, they can be on our side. 3 hrs · Edited · Like
Einde O'Callaghan To be quite frank: I don't think that the majority of the people who will make the revolution and build communist society will be Marxists! 3 hrs · Unlike · 5
Charles Brown Marxists can be Martin Luther King style Christians. 2 hrs · Like · 1
Charles Brown "The history of early Christianity has notable points of resemblance with the modern working-class movement. Like the latter, Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people: it first appeared as the religion of slaves and emancipated slaves...See More On the History of Early Christianity www.marxists.org First Published: In Die Neue Zeit, 1894-95;Translated: by the Institute of Marxi...See More
2 hrs · Edited · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown
http://books.google.com/.../The_urgency_of_Marxist... The urgency of Marxist-Christian dialogue books.google.com
2 hrs · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown Why should Marxist be an atheist? Just because of the fact that the religion is the opium of people? Why can't Christianity exist in communism?//// In your _Marxism_ you must be an atheist, because the theory and practice of Marxism is based on materialism or naturalism: no belief in supernatural or immortal beings influencing the class struggle. Marx gives a lot of compliments to religion in his famous statement which says religion is the opium of the people. Marxists when they are following Marx , however, note, that his critique of religion is not so much that it is the opium of the people. That is something of a positive service it does, like aspirin. He doesn't really seem to emphasize that it deters them from revolutionary activity by quieting them. His main critique is that Man makes God; God doesn't make Man. Man makes God in his own image, anthropomorphises him; God doesn't make man in his own image. I interpret this as an urging of "Man", humans , to do what they expect God to do. In other words, get up and get at it, get active, change the world.
2 hrs · Like · 1 Charles Brown For Germany, the criticism of religion has been essentially completed, and the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.
The profane existence of error is compromised as soon as its heavenly oratio pro aris et focis [“speech for the ...See More
Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right 1844 www.marxists.org Marx's, Draft Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, which was never completed
2 hrs · Like · 2 · Remove Preview Charles Brown I think it might be helpful of Marxists ,at least in certain linguistic groups, refer to themselves alternatively as naturalists and materialists, because "materialist" has a connotation of "materialistic" or money grubbing and "idealist" doesn't connotate philosophical idealism but high minded pursuit of worthy goals. So, how about historical and dialectical naturalists ? 1 hr · Like · 1
Charles Brown Naturalism (philosophy) Naturalism is "the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the world; (occas.) the idea or belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world."[1] Adherents of naturalism (i.e., naturalists) assert that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws.
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_%28philosophy%29 Naturalism (philosophy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org Naturalism is "the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural ...See More
1 hr · Like · Remove Preview Dialectical Mysticist How can we know for certain that there is no supernatural if we can not see such thing. How logical it is to believe in nonexistence of something that is outside of your perception. Well, i can't be sure that an alien is standing behind me right now, because I can't be sure whether there is something or not, It can't be seen. That is why I think that atheism and naturalism is as dogmatic as Idealism and theismk 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism
darwin The great basic question of all philosophy, especially of more recent philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being. From the very early times when men, still completely ignorant of the structure of their own bodies, under the stimulus of dream apparitions (1) came to believe that their thinking and sensation were not activities of their bodies, but of a distinct soul which inhabits the body and leaves it at death — from this time men have been driven to reflect about the relation between this soul and the outside world. If, upon death, it took leave of the body and lived on, there was no occassion to invent yet another distinct death for it. Thus arose the idea of immortality, which at that stage of development appeared not at all as a consolation but as a fate against which it was no use fighting, and often enough, as among the Greeks, as a positive misfortune. The quandry arising from the common universal ignorance of what to do with this soul, once its existence had been accepted, after the death of the body, and not religious desire for consolation, led in a general way to the tedious notion of personal immortality. In an exactly similar manner, the first gods arose through the personification of natural forces. And these gods in the further development of religions assumed more and more extramundane form, until finally by a process of abstraction, I might almost say of distillation, occurring naturally in the course of man’s intellectual development, out of the many more or less limited and mutually limiting gods there arose in the minds of men the idea of the one exclusive God of the monotheistic religions.
Thus the question of the relation of thinking to being, the relation of the spirit to nature — the paramount question of the whole of philosophy — has, no less than all religion, its roots in the narrow-minded and ignorant notions of savagery ( This is bad anthropology. "Savages" were hardly ignorant and truly not savages; the "civilized" were the actual savages, which Engels learned some in writing _The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State_.) But this question could for the first time be put forward in its whole acuteness, could achieve its full significance, only after humanity in Europe had awakened from the long hibernation of the Christian Middle Ages. The question of the position of thinking in relation to being, a question which, by the way, had played a great part also in the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, the question: which is primary, spirit or nature — that question, in relation to the church, was sharpened into this: Did God create the world or has the world been in existence eternally?
The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other — and among the philosophers, Hegel, for example, this creation often becomes still more intricate and impossible than in Christianity — comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism.
These two expressions, idealism and materialism, originally signify nothing else but this; and here too they are not used in any other sense. What confusion arises when some other meaning is put to them will be seen below. 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist And If we want workers to have logical and clear idea of the existence of supernatural, not fanatic attitude towards this, they should be agnostics, our philosophy should be agnosticism and not atheism, because workers are progressive class, proletariat should hold the right attitude towards anything, and atheism can't be such because it is illogical and a priori dogma
1 hr · Edited · Like Charles Brown Engels: "From the very early times when men, still completely ignorant of the structure of their own bodies, under the stimulus of dream apparitions (1) came to believe that their thinking and sensation were not activities of their bodies, but of a distinct soul which inhabits the body and leaves it at death — from this time men have been driven to reflect about the relation between this soul and the outside world. If, upon death, it took leave of the body and lived on, there was no occassion to invent yet another distinct death for it. " Comment by Charles: I think the concept of an immortal soul is more likely to develop out of so-called ancestor worship, as ancestors are treated as still living , so if they are still living , the living might go on living after death. Ancestor "worship" is central to culture , the anthropological concept, and culture is transgenerational or dead generations living on in some natural , not supernatural, sense in future generations. I have dubbed culture "natural soul" ( as opposed to supernatural soul). Various peoples may have conceived of soul naturally , too. They might understand that the bodies of their ancestors were dead , but their ideas, beliefs, myths, stories and language , now termed culture by anthropology, etc lived on in the new generations continuing the customs and traditions and family names and kinship. Stone Age societies were founded very intensely , more than we can understand, on their kinship systems; people ordered their living relationships in the foraging bands based on relations to common ancestors who are dead.systems, people order their living relationships based on relations to common ancestors who are dead. 1 hr · Edited · Like
Liam Murcia It seems rather odd to criticize the alleged "alienation" and "unscientific" character inherent in "all religions" (without contrasting religious beliefs that have been useful to push for emancipation, for example certain trends in Catholicism) and "prove it" by quoting texts by Marxists as if they were scriptures. C'mon people.
1 hr · Like Charles Brown Dialectical Mysticist And If we want workers to have logical and clear idea of the existence of supernatural, not fanatic attitude towards this, they should be agnostics, our philosophy should be agnosticism and not atheism, because workers are progressive class, proletariat should hold the right attitude towards anything, and atheism can't be such because it is illogical and a priori/////// Engels would beg to differ with you in Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism (smiles) 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist Murcia Since religion is still religion after the death of Marx and Engels, their opinions on religion is still valid since the religion has not lost his essence 1 hr · Like
Liam Murcia Didn't say ot wasn't valid, just not an standard to qualify as a "good Marxist". 1 hr · Like Liam Murcia Didn't say ot wasn't valid, just not an standard to qualify as a "good Marxist". 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist " Engels would beg to differ with you in Frederick Engels Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy Part 2: Materialism (smiles)" sorry, don't understand what you mean, comrade. 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Hume and Kant are the famous agnostics. Engels calls agnostics "shame-faced" materialists: "In addition, there is yet a set of different philosophers — those who question the possibility of any cognition, or at least of an exhaustive cognition, of the world. To them, among the more modern ones, belong Hume and Kant, and they played a very important role in philosophical development. What is decisive in the refutation of this view has already been said by Hegel, in so far as this was possible from an idealist standpoint. The materialistic additions made by Feuerbach are more ingenious than profound. The most telling refutation of this as of all other philosophical crotchets is practice — namely, experiment and industry. If we are able to prove the correctness of our conception of a natural process by making it ourselves, bringing it into being out of its conditions and making it serve our own purposes into the bargain, then there is an end to the Kantian ungraspable “thing-in-itself”. The chemical substances produced in the bodies of plants and animals remained just such “things-in-themselves” until organic chemistry began to produce them one after another, whereupon the “thing-in-itself” became a thing for us — as, for instance, alizarin, the coloring matter of the madder, which we no longer trouble to grow in the madder roots in the field, but produce much more cheaply and simply from coal tar. For 300 years, the Copernican solar system was a hypothesis with 100, 1,000, 10,000 to 1 chances in its favor, but still always a hypothesis. But then Leverrier, by means of the data provided by this system, not only deduced the necessity of the existence of an unknown planet, but also calculated the position in the heavens which this planet must necessarily occupy, and when [Johann] Galle really found this planet [Neptune, discovered 1846, at Berlin Observatory], the Copernican system was proved. If, nevertheless, the neo-Kantians are attempting to resurrect the Kantian conception in Germany, and the agnostics that of Hume in England (where in fact it never became extinct), this is, in view of their theoretical and practical refutation accomplished long ago, scientifically a regression and practically merely a shamefaced way of surreptitiously accepting materialism, while denying it before the world." 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist oh i guess now 1 hr · Like
Einde O'Callaghan Application of Ockham's Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is the one you should start with - in other words, we should start from perceptible explanations and only reject them if they can't explain the phenomenon. As regards the existence of...See More 1 hr · Like
Dialectical Mysticist What about pragmatic attitude like pascal's wager? 1 hr · Like
Einde O'Callaghan Many people may adopt this attitude, but personally I tend to side with Laplace who when asked if he believed in god replied: "I have no need of that hypothesis." 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown Liam Murcia and "prove it" by quoting texts by Marxists as if they were scriptures. C'mon people./// Notice below my comment is longer than what I quote and is a critical comment. That is the complete opposite of quoting Engels like scripture. You are ...See More
1 hr · Edited · Like Dialectical Mysticist God is improbable, but there is little chances that he exists. and if he is there...which is unlikely but still probable....Pascals wager becomes rational...doesn't it? 1 hr · Like Liam Murcia I wasn't refering to you Charles. 1 hr · Like
Charles Brown I'd say the main reason Marxists must be atheists in analysis of the class struggle is that the bourgeoisie are atheists or their effective activity in class struggle and their political actions to keep the working class ruled and oppressed are based i...See More 1 hr · Edited · Like
Charles Brown
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=782458945098207&set=a.597736973570406.1073741825.275373239140116&type=1&theater Mobile Uploads By: Working class atheists 1 hr · Like · Remove Preview
Charles Brown I don't see anybody else referring to Marx as scripture either. We need more extended quoting of Marx by leftists , not less. 1 hr · Like
Liam Murcia I see quite a few before you, quoting, as I said "Marxists" (not only "Marx"). Quotes are important and we should make use of the wealth of theory we have access to, but they shouldn't constitute the final word, don't you agree? 42 mins · Edited · Like Charles Brown Some of it is the "final" word _for now_. Like E = mc squared is the final word for now. Many of Marx's formula are scientific laws, like natural laws, until capitalism is over. Not religious dogma, but scientific truth. Like Darwin's law of natural history, Marx has the laws of capitalist accumulation down very precisely. So, we treat them rigorously. Notice Marx treats laws as tendencies. They are also like jurisprudential laws. Of course, people break laws, but in the main they are followed and give rise to empirical generalizations of the facts of people's behavior , conduct , activities. 21 mins · Like
Charles Brown "The capitalist mode of appropriation, the result of the capitalist mode of production, produces capitalist private property. This is the first negation of individual private property, as founded on the labour of the proprietor. But capitalist production begets, _with the inexorability of a law of Nature_ ( emphasis added -CB), its own negation. It is the negation of negation. This does not re-establish private property for the producer, but gives him individual property based on the acquisition of the capitalist era: i.e., on cooperation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of production. " https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter Thirty Two www.marxists.org Capital Vol. I : Chapter Thirty-Two (Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation)
20 mins · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown Notice natural science works on a metaphor from jurisprudence, "law": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_science
Laws of science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org The laws of science or scientific laws are statements that describe, predict, an...See More
18 mins · Edited · Like · Remove Preview Charles Brown "Every beginning is difficult, holds in all sciences. To understand the first chapter, especially the section that contains the analysis of commodities, will, therefore, present the greatest difficulty. That which concerns more especially the analysis of the substance of value and the magnitude of value, I have, as much as it was possible, popularised. [1] The value-form, whose fully developed shape is the money-form, is very elementary and simple. Nevertheless, the human mind has for more than 2,000 years sought in vain to get to the bottom of it all, whilst on the other hand, to the successful analysis of much more composite and complex forms, there has been at least an approximation. Why? Because the body, as an organic whole, is more easy of study than are the cells of that body. In the analysis of economic forms, moreover, neither microscopes nor chemical reagents are of use. The force of abstraction must replace both. But in bourgeois society, the commodity-form of the product of labour — or value-form of the commodity — is the economic cell-form. To the superficial observer, the analysis of these forms seems to turn upon minutiae. It does in fact deal with minutiae, but they are of the same order as those dealt with in microscopic anatomy.
With the exception of the section of value-form, therefore, this volume cannot stand accused on the score of difficulty. I presuppose, of course, a reader who is willing to learn something new and therefore to think for himself.
The physicist either observes physical phenomena where they occur in their most typical form and most free from disturbing influence, or, wherever possible, he makes experiments under conditions that assure the occurrence of the phenomenon in its normality. In this work I have to examine the capitalist mode of production, and the conditions of production and exchange corresponding to that mode. Up to the present time, their classic ground is England. That is the reason why England is used as the chief illustration in the development of my theoretical ideas. If, however, the German reader shrugs his shoulders at the condition of the English industrial and agricultural labourers, or in optimist fashion comforts himself with the thought that in Germany things are not nearly so bad; I must plainly tell him, “De te fabula narratur!” [It is of you that the story is told. – Horace]
Intrinsically, it is not a question of the higher or lower degree of development of the social antagonisms that result from the natural laws of capitalist production. It is a question of these laws themselves, of these tendencies working with iron necessity towards inevitable results. The country that is more developed industrially only shows, to the less developed, the image of its own future. " 14 mins · Like
Charles Brown My main criticism of Nietzsche ( and it's a big one from the standpoint of Marxism) is that in the Geneology of Morals I think it is he basically becomes the champion of all the ruling classes that he knows of from all times ! He is sort of the anti-Marx explicitly, pro-ruling class anti-ruled class in all the modes of production in the history as a history of class struggles. So, Nietzsche's famous atheism of "God is dead" is the voice of Ruling Class atheism from all times. We should treat it as an expose of this fact. Some where in a class conscious sector of people, all ruling classes must have atheists or they couldn't successfully rule. Can't rule if you really believe in Zeus , thus Plato, atheist. , etc. Many philosophers are sort of secret atheists for the ruling classes down through history. On the other hand, they accumulate a lot of objective knowledge because they are materialists in some ways.
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