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[May. 14th, 2012|10:55 am] |
Moishe Postone: Thinking the Global Crisis
At South Atlantic Quarterly, Perspectives on the Global Crisis
"More and more labor is being rendered superfluous, even as the organization of capitalist society remained predicated on its existence. One result is a growing maldistribution of labor time between an overworked segment of society and one that is essentially without work. This is no longer a conjunctural question as it, perhaps, had been during the Great Depression, but it has become a structural one.
These brief considerations suggest that a future beyond capitalism would require a fundamental transformation of the division of labor and that, without movement in that direction, increasing numbers of people will be rendered superfluous, susceptible to hunger, disease, and violence. They will increasingly become the objects of militarized control. On thislevel, the current crisis can also be understood as a crisis of labor interwoven in complex ways with a crisis of the natural environment. Against this historical background, the old slogan of “socialism or barbarism” acquires new urgency, even if our understanding of both terms has been fundamentally transformed." |
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[May. 12th, 2012|12:24 pm] |
Finally some outreach from the greybearded pundits at Principia Dialectica;
"11
MAY
Situationist aesthetics and stuff, a university conference
Posted by principiadialectica.co.uk (0) Comment
Coming up in June 2012. At some shit university. Seminars include:
Is it ethical to buy Situationist art? – Panel chair: My mum, artdealer
How to get funding to do a Phd on the Situationists – Panel chair: My mate, teacher at university, whose written a crap book on the Situationists
What is alive and what is dead in the Situationist dialectic? – Panel chair: A dead bloke
A guide on how to prattle on about the Situationists while avoiding talking to normal people – Panel chair: Dead bloke again
The Situationists and Why the Working Class are always a Really Beautiful Revolutionary Working Class – Panel chair: This bloke in the SWP who won’t leave me alone, always hassling me, so to shut him up I gave him this panel to organise
Stewart Home: Why is he such an expert on the Situationists? – Panel chair: Stewart Home
Situationists and their relationship with Sand – Panel chair: Some bloke who has just done a Phd on Situationists and Sand, and is hoping Verso will publish it because they are the kind of tossers who would
Send a cheque payable to Me to my address at my university bedroom if you want a ticket. Thanks, you loser. And don’t expect me to talk to you even once during the whole day, because Me and my mates are too fucking cool to be seen with a loser like you. Now fuck off" |
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[Apr. 18th, 2012|12:49 am] |
http://shiftmag.co.uk/?p=497
An Aussie writer resident in the UK nails the real , deep meaning of occupation & how it challenges neoliberalism, then provides the real answer as to what comes next. Brilliant. |
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[Apr. 8th, 2012|04:50 pm] |
Fascinating article on the role of Radio Stations in the 74 portuguese Revolution from History Is Made At Night blog,
"Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Portugal 1974/75: Radio and Revolution
In April 1974, left leaning military officers overthrew the Portuguese dictatorship and ended its colonial wars in Africa. For the next two years Portugal was in turmoil, with workers taking over workplaces and many hoping to push the revolution further. The radio stations were one of the key sites of struggle, in particular Rádio Renascença.
The Revolution Started with a Song by John Hoyland (Street Life, November 1 1975):
'3 am, April 25 1974. By prior arrangement with the rebel Armed Forces Movement (AFM), a DJ on Lisbon's Radio Renascenca plays 'Grandola, Vila Morena', a popular song of the day whose possible subversive meaning had escaped the censor's ears. The song is a signal for a military uprising that, with scarcely any opposition, overthrows the Caetano Government, and brings to an end 50 years of fascism in Portugal. The next day, the people pour into the streets, and give the soldiers red carnations. The soldiers stick the flowers in their guns...'
Tuesday August 26 1975
A visit to Radio Renascenca (RR), the radio station that the workers took over from its owners, the Catholic Church. As well as broadcasting news of workers' struggles and discussions with workers and peasants, it plays a lot of good music — including the best rock music in Lisbon — and has an hour a day in Spanish, beamed across Portugal towards Spain. A couple of the workers describe the history of their struggle to take over the radio station from their bosses — how the AFM sent a unit of COPCON [a military organisation] to hand RR back to the Church, and how the occupying workers broadcast a call to the people of Lisbon to help them — with the result that thousands of workers gathered outside the building to defend it, the COPCON soldiers refused to obey their orders, and in the end the AFM was forced to ratify the occupation.
The workers — both young guys, one of them with extremely long hair — go on to say that they are currently linking up with all the Lisbon Workers' Commissions, with the idea of forming a city-wide co-operative that would control the radio-station, and also finance it. "Then we won't have to take any more advertisements, not even from the nationalised industries." (At the moment a radio talk on the concept of Popular Power and the Class Struggle is liable to be disconcertingly interrupted by a bleep and a jingle for Seven-Up.) Before the April 25 coup, Radio Renascenca was on the air six hours a day, whereas now it's 24 hours a day. "We're the same number of workers, so we've multiplied our work-load by four. But you have to. The situation changes here so fast, each hour in Portugal is like a day. Since the coup, we feel as if we've lived through about 30 years . . ." In spite of this, they seem very sprightly and determined people. But they aren't particularly optimistic: "Lisbon is a red island in a sea of reaction. We don't think the conditions for revolution exist in Portugal yet. Nor is there a party that could carry it through. In our view, the parties here' are still too concerned about their own power, and not concerned enough about the needs of the workers'.'
Portugal: the Impossible Revolution by Phil Mailer:
'The radio station had been owned by the Catholic Church. Gradually, during May, the workers concerned had taken it over, disliking the line being pushed. Their communique of June 6 outlined what was at stake: "The complete history of our struggles at RR would bring together arguments and documents which a simple communique' cannot hope to do. When our story is written many positions will become clearer, as will the ways in which they relate to the overall politics of the country. The Portuguese people will then be able to judge the counter-revolutionary politics of the bosses, the immoralities of all sorts committed in the name of the Church, and the many betrayals carried out by capitalist lackeys in our midst. In their latest delirium the Management Committee (i.e. the Church) completely distorted our struggle and attacked the MFA. Of 127 lines, 73 were devoted to denouncing the government...
When they speak of the violent occupation of the radio station they forget to mention that the only violence was when Maximo Marques (a member of the Management Committee) attacked one of our comrades, who didn't respond to the provocation... The management argue that we are a minority of 20, whereas 30 would be more correct. Radio Renascenca is a private company owning a radio station, a printing press, a record shop, two cinemas, buildings and office blocks, etc. In the station we are about 60 workers. The management say we are trying to silence the Church's mouthpiece, and prevent it from reaching a large section of the population. If by this they mean we are trying to silence fascist voices, they are right. Words like truth, justice and liberty lose all meaning when they come from the RR administration. We remember the time when the priests managed the station and censored encyclicals, Vatican texts and even the Bible (!!) We propose that the management show their concern for liberty by supporting the current liberation of RR, now in the service of the workers and controlled by the workers. The workers of RR, June 6, 1975".
The struggle at Radio Renascenca was widely supported. The options were fairly clear: to side with the Workers' Committee or with the Church. Vasco Goncalves and other members of the Revolutionary Council decided to hand the station back to the Church. The decision was bitterly opposed by some 100,000 workers. A demonstration was held on June 18 at which Lisnave and TAP workers stood outside the gates and warned that RR would only be returned to the Church 'over their dead bodies'. 400 Catholic counter-demonstrators had to seek refuge in the house of the local Patriarcado. The determination of the workers caused the Revolutionary Council promptly to reverse steam. It found a way out: to decree the nationalisation of all newspapers, radio stations and television networks'.
In November 1975 the station's radio transmitters were blown up, effectively closing the station down before it was handed back to the Church in December.
Posted by Transpontine at 5:30 AM 0 comments
Labels: 1970s, fascism/anti-fascism, Portugal, radio"
This revolution was the subject of one of the last Solidarity books. |
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[Apr. 5th, 2012|01:16 pm] |
From NRT again;
"Voting against democracy
Two years ago, the National Party repealed democracy in Canterbury, replacing the elected Canterbury Regional Council with a clique of unelected dictators. Last night, Labour finally managed to bring a bill to reverse that situation and force immediate elections for ECan to the floor of the House.
National, ACT, Peter Dunne and the Maori Party voted it down.
National's vote isn't really so surprising. They've consistently shown that their default solution to any problem is dictatorship, and they're not going to surrender power back to the people until that dictatorship has irreversibly given away the regions water to their farmer-cronies. Banks and Dunne are just sock-puppets. But the Maori Party? What do they have against the people of Canterbury? And do they really think that "Maori should have guaranteed political representation while the people of Canterbury should have none" is a sustainable position?
I am, as usual, disgusted. This is a fundamental democratic right. Our Parliament has just voted against it, for the second time. They're really not showing themselves to be good guardians of our democracy, and its another argument for an enforceable Bill of Rights to keep them in line.
Meanwhile, think about this: democratic means to restore democracy in Canterbury have just failed. What option does that leave now?"
Would somebody please do something about Peter Dunne? |
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[Mar. 22nd, 2012|09:01 am] |
So Stuff condones hate speech, ie about 10 or 15% of the comments under this story talk about forcibly "culling the herd", "sorting out the parasites", "taking baseball bats & bashing the occupiers" & similar choice phrases. The fascist underbelly speaks but why does Stuff think its their public duty to provide a forum for this toxic shite? Comment moderation please.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6586856/Occupy-Christchurch-Enough-is-enough#comments
Occupy Christchurch Protesters May Be Kicked Out | Stuff.co.nz
www.stuff.co.nz
The Christchurch City Council is considering kicking Occupy Christchurch protesters out of South Hagley Park. |
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