Mois : mai 2008

Index May 2008

Chris Nineham – England

Chris Nineham is a British Trotskyist and a member of the Central Committee of the british Socialist Workers’ Party. He is a member of the Steering Group of Globalise Resistance In 1985 Chris Nineham served as the drummer of indie-pop band The June Brides. (wikipedia).

He says: « We’ve shown the warmongers that far from disappearing, were still growing, and we’ll stay on the streets until we win »; Police estimated the numbers marching at 110,000. But Chris Nineham, a spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, said that 350,000 had joined the protest … (full text).

4 videos:

Stop the War Coalition’s public meetings – DEFENDING THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY: Stop the War has organised a series of rallies to defend the Muslim community, starting next week. If one of these rallies is being held in your area, please attend and publicise as widely as you can. PUBLIC MEETINGS (3 to 12 June 2008, Geat Britain): … (full text).

At an impasse? Anti-capitalism and the social forums today, Issue: 115, Alex Callinicos and Chris Nineham, 2 July 2007.

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sorry, no photo of Chris Nineham – England, but you can see him on all the here mentionned videos.

STOP THE WAR COALITION NEWSLETTER No. 1043, 27 May 2008, e-mail, T: England 020 7278 6694, Web: The protest will be in London on Sunday 15 June 2008 and will also call for an end to the British government’s support for these shameful wars … (full text).

Photo Gallery of Globalise Resistance.

He writes: … The narrow focus of Cultural Materialism also begs the crucial question-what exactly are the dynamics of production in society? Without a general theory of how society works, Cultural Materialism can degenerate into empiricism. In the end Cultural Materialism encourages us to analyse culture in isolation from wider society. Williams had some (often vague) notion of capitalist relations and he often talks about class, but other writers in his wake have arbitrarily seen race, gender or sexuality as the key determinants … (full text).

Attempt to hijack Euro demo.

… Little did I know when I resolved on a series of posts about the Socialist Workers’ Party that I would shortly be able to cite a prime and topical instance of what the Observer columnist Nick Cohen has aptly termed that organisation’s parasitism … (full text).

Social Forum, Open up London ESF bid.

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Cornel Ronald West – USA

Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American scholar, public intellectual, sociologist, critic, pastor, and civil rights activist. Formerly a professor at Harvard University, currently West is a professor of Religion and director of African American Studies at Princeton. West is known for his combination of political and moral insight and criticism, and his contribution to the post-1960s civil rights movement. The bulk of his work focuses upon the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their “radical conditionedness”. West draws intellectual contributions from such diverse traditions as the African American Baptist Church, Marxism, pragmatism, transcendentalism, and Anton Chekhov … (full text).

His Biography: on wikipedia; on IMDb; on answers.com; on Dictionary of Literary Biography; on Human Archives.org; on Robert S. Boynton.

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Cornel Ronald West – USA

Listen his video: Race Matters, from about 4.50 min to 52 min.

He says: « I begin with the notion that we are all cracked vessels, meaning that as vanishing organisms in space and time, we have fears, insecurities, anxieties, sometimes even inner demons with which we all have to come to terms. And given that humanness of each and every one of us, we’re all part of a certain family, community, society, culture, history, which is shot through with different forms of xenophobia. This is what, in part, human history has been. So the question is going to be: what kind of courage do we have to examine those prejudices that we do have in order to become more decent and compassionate human beings? » … (full interview text).

On Philosophical Literature, May 26, 2008.

Kevin Powell, author, commentator and political activist; the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, President, National Rainbow/Push Coalition; Susan Taylor, former Editorial Director, Essence magazine; the Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network; Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Kimberly Crenshaw, Columbia and UCLA law professor; Roland Martin, CNN Analyst; Makani Themba-Nixon, Executive Director, Praxis Project; Dr. Cornel West; Bev Smith, National Radio Talk Show Host … have been invited to participate at the recently held Second State of the Black World Conference SOBWC, on May 5, 2008.

Booknotes/the Cornel West Reader.

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Eliane Potiguara – Brazil

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

Eliane Potiguara (1950) was born in an indigenous ghetto in Rio, formed by indigenous people from Paraíba, a poor state in the Northeast of Brazil. Eliane is the founder of Brazil’s first indigenous organization, the Grumin (Woman and Indigenous Education Group), which has now been transformed into the Network of Indigenous Communication. As a writer, Eliane also articulates a group of indigenous authors that fight for the preservation of their culture …

… She says: « In the process of oppression of the indigenous people, women suffered the most. But the spirituality of my people is deep and it will not disappear easily ».
(1000peacewomen).

Her personal website in portuguese.

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Eliane Potiguara – Brazil

She works for Rede de Comunicação Indígena (Network of Indigenous Communication), and for Rede de Escritores Indígenas (Network of Indigenous Writers).

Eliane Potiguara is the founder and president of Brazil’s GRUMIN (the Group of Indigenous Women Educators).

Eliane Potiguara, also known as Eliane Lima dos Santos , was born in Rio de Janeiro after her family emigrated from the impoverished state of Paraiba, home of the Potiguara Indigenous tribe. At just twelve years old, she discovered her vocation for teaching; working at her neighborhood school teaching students to read and write. In high school, she taught, attended classes and worked as a telephone operator, seven days a week. In an effort to guarantee a better future for Brazil’s 220,000 Indians, she has created a nationwide network of indigenous women. Among her many achievements, she has organized the Group of Indigenous Women Educators (GRUMIN). GRUMIN currently employs twenty-six regional coordinators implementing a basic program of education and consciousness-raising among women in hundreds of villages … (full text).

Video in portuguese: Eliane Potiguara – Algumas Palavras, 9.42

1000peacewomen-text: … Eliane’s memories of her childhood are of a life marked by poverty and exclusion. Raised in an indigenous ghetto near one of the city’s prostitution areas, her family reached to point where they had to live on the streets. Her grandmother used to sell bananas at the entrance of the school where Eliane studied. Her inspiration for her efforts to defend indigenous women comes from the drive and the interest in literature of the women who raised her. “We live a historical violence; my grandmother left her tribe after being molested at age 12”, she says.

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Linh Dinh – Vietnam and USA

Linh Đinh (born 1963) is a bilingual poet, fiction writer, essayist and translator, publishing in Vietnamese as Đinh Linh. Born in Saigon, he left Vietnam on April 27, 1975 under the fake name of Lý Ký Kiệt. After living in Washington, Oregon, California and Virginia, he moved to Philadelphia in 1982, where he studied painting at the University of the Arts (at the same time as Phong Bui) … (full long text).

Sinh tại Sài Gòn, Việt Nam năm 1963, đến Mỹ năm 1975, sinh sống và lớn lên tại thành phố Philadelphia, Đinh Linh là tác giả của hai tập truyện và bốn tập thơ. Tác phẩm của anh từng được chọn cho nhiều tuyển tập uy tín của văn chương Mỹ. Anh còn là nhà biên tập và dịch giả giới thiệu nhiều tác giả và tác phẩm văn chương Việt Nam cho người đọc tiếng Anh … (Đôi dòng về tác giả).
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Some of his writings in vietnamese: Nhạc Tây, and Penn Sound—Đinh Linh đọc thơ/văn, and Tới nơi đã ngủm, and Đạn liên miên trên đất dẹp lép – Một đất nước siêu sạch, and trích (Lĩnh Đinh Chích Khoái).
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The Video: The Holloway Series in Poetry – also with Linh Dinh, all poets together for 80.41 min, added April 03, 2008 (Linh Dinh from 21.30 – 76.33 min, then answering questions … with a video-patchwork near the end) … Poetry that « raids and reinvents the language with an ardor bordering on delirium » … .

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Linh Dinh – Vietnam and USA

Linh Dinh on PEW, fellowships in the arts.

It is said: Among Asian American poets few have risen to heights of Linh Dinh. His poetry is full of disturbance and grace and the work is worth the sit because of the feeling of unease it causes … follows an interview … (chicago postmodern poetry).

His blog Detainees.

He remembers: When I think about the Vietnam war, I remember Hamburger Hill, so called because American soldiers were ground up there in the late 1960s; the battle for Hamburger Hill was one I watched on television as a child. The American guide to Hamburger Hill was CBS newsman, Ed Bradley, best known these days for his recent interview of Michael Jackson. To think about Hamburger Hill not as a battle or as a place (which doubtless has another, Vietnamese, name), rather as the name for a battle, is to think about how language is often used in contemporary poetry to describe suffering … (full long text).

Eight Postcards from Vietnam, Essay.

… In his poem “Earth Cafeteria,” Linh Dinh writes: “To eat stinky food/ is a sign of savagery, humility, / identification with the earth.” The poem quotes Lin Yutang and Mikhail Bakhtin; it ends with lines that suggest the straddling of customs that recent immigrants confront daily, a reality that beautifully complicates U.S. identity, but one which the likes of Hollander do not regard as desirable DNA for poetry. Dinh’s poem ends: “To eat with a three-pronged spear and a knife./ To eat with two wooden sticks./ To eat with the hands. To snack on a tub of roasted grasshoppers at the movies” … (full text, May 8, 2008).

Description of his book Fake House.

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Jamyang Kyi – China/Tibet

currently imprisoned by Chinese authorities

BEIJING — The Chinese authorities have detained a prominent Tibetan television broadcaster and intellectual who is also a popular singer, suggesting that the government crackdown after the disturbances in and around Tibet has yet to run its course … There has been no official confirmation of the detention … (full text, April 18, 2008).

Two of her songs in videos: Tibetan Song Phayul Dren lu Singer Jam Yangkyi, 3 min; Tsering gyurmey and jamyang kyi song -Le tro, 4.02 min.

Her blog in Tibetan language … just now not accesssible! Her blog is apparently very popular among young Tibetans, but it has not been updated for some months now (see on free muse.org)

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Jamyang Kyi – China/Tibet

The Window of Jamyang Kyi, created for her on flickr, to give your comments.

Her husband said in a telephone interview: “She is in serious trouble, I’m very worried for her safety. I’m very sorry. I can’t say more” (NY Times, April 18, 2008).

… she composes herself the songs that she interprets, with evocative titles as “Prayer”, “Karma”, “distant Lover” and “Heart Message” (made) in 1997 (that) shows her sensibility. Jamyang Kyi is also a journalist of television, and a writer. She composed essays on the fate of Tibetan women. She published articles including one on the illegal dealings in girls (Qinghai Daily, edition in Tibetan language, 11/30/05) and the statute of women in the Tibetan society … (soc.culture.asean).

Some pictures of her LIVE CONCERT on April 22nd 2006.

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On April 27th, 1998, the patriot Thupten Ngodup set himself on fire in Delhi, and died for the cause of Tibetan independence … (full long text, 13 May 2008).

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Videos with other Tibetan singers and musicians (modern youngsters and traditional):

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William Jack Baumol – USA

William Jack Baumol (born February 26, 1922) is a New York University economics professor (although he is also affiliated with Princeton University) who has written extensively about labor market and other economic factors that affect the economy. He also made valuable contributions to the history of economic thought. He is among the 500 best economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc. Among his better-known contributions are the theory of contestable markets, the Baumol-Tobin model of transactions demand for money, Baumol’s cost disease, which discusses the rising costs associated with service industries, and Pigou taxes [Baumol, W.J. (1972), ‘On Taxation and the Control of Externalities’, American Economic Review, 62 (3), 307-322]. The 2006 Annual Meetings of the American Economic Association held a special session in his name, and honoring his many years of work, where 12 papers on entrepreneurship were presented (AEA Annual Meeting Papers). The British magazine, The Economist published an article about William Baumol and his lifelong work to develop a place in economic theory for the entrepreneur (March 11, 2006, pp 68), much of which owes its genesis to Joseph Schumpeter. They note that traditional microeconomic theory holds a place for ‘prices’ and ‘firms’ but not for that (seemingly) important engine of innovation, the entrepreneur. Baumol is given credit for helping to remedy this shortcoming: Thanks to Mr. Baumol’s own painstaking efforts, economists now have a bit more room for entrepreneurs in their theories. Baumol is a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security … (full long text).

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William Jack Baumol – USA

His Video: William Baumol, conversation with Harold Channer, originally aired 06-12-99, 59 min, added on web March 19, 2008.

He says: … “It is true that in money terms our productivity will be slowed down by the shift in labor from agriculture, manufacturing and services like telecommunications into services like health care and education, but if you count the number of students who have graduated or the number of people who have been taken care of after a heart malfunction, that is not going down” … (full text, August 13, 2007).

Absurd remedies to cost disease.

… When Mozart composed his String Quintet in G Minor (K. 516), in 1787, you needed five people to perform it—two violinists, two violists, and a cellist. Today, you still need five people, and, unless they play really fast, they take about as long to perform it as musicians did two centuries ago. So much for progress. An economist would say that the productivity of classical musicians has not improved over time, and in this regard the musicians aren’t alone. In a number of industries, workers produce about as much per hour as they did a decade or two ago. The average college professor can’t grade papers or give lectures any faster today than he did in the early nineties. It takes a waiter just as long to serve a meal, and a car-repair guy just as long to fix a radiator hose. The rest of the American economy functions differently … The result is that in industries where productivity is flat costs and prices keep going up. Economists call this phenomenon “Baumol’s cost disease” … (full text, July 7, 2003).

Find his CV/Bio: on his own homepage at econ.nyu.edu; on Pioneers of Industrial Organization; on all biographies.com; encyclopedia.farles.com … etc etc …

William Baumol and his co-authors have analyzed the impact of differential productivity growth on the health of different sectors and on the overall economy. They argued that technologically stagnant sectors experience above average cost and price increases, take a rising share of national output, and slow aggregate productivity growth. Using industry data for the period 1948-2001, the present study investigates Baumol’s diseases for the overall economy … (full text).

Citations of William Baumol.

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Meredith Tax – USA

Linked with Women’s World, and with Women’s Voices.

Meredith Tax was born in Wisconsin and educated in the Milwaukee public school system. She attended Brandeis University, where she majored in English and graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson fellowships, both of which she took at the University of London. In London, she became involved in the antiwar movement and decided she wanted to become an activist rather than an academic. Returning to the US in 1968, she continued her antiwar work and was one of the initiators of Bread and Roses, an early socialist-feminist organization in Boston. Her first important piece of writing, “Women and Her Mind: the Story of Everyday Life,” (1970) is considered a founding document of the women’s movement. She has described her early women’s movement experiences in an essay in The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women’s Liberation (Crown, 1998) … (full biography).

She is also Board member of Women’s World.

She reads in her book: Jewish womens and the feminist revolution, an audio.

download her books: Rivington Street, 2001, 432 pages; and Union Square, 2001, 437 pages.

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Meredith Tax – USA

Familias, Families in the feminist press.

She says on Stereotypes about Women: « We have to imagine what we could have been if we had not been taught from birth that we are stupid, unable to analyze anything, intuitive, passive, physically weak, hysterical, overemotional, dependent by nature, incapable of defending against any attack, fit only to be the housekeeper, sex object, and emotional service center for some man or men and children. And then only if we’re lucky – otherwise we must act out a commerical mockery of those roles as someone else’s secretary ». (colorado.edu).

In the Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon, by Meredith Tax, January 10, 2002.

Because most children’s books are written by women, a large majority of the authors they have targeted are female, among them Meredith Tax, President of Women’s WORLD. Archive/Library of Women’s World.

… Although Christian fundamentalists in the United States usually attack feminists through legal means rather than death threats (except in the case of anti-abortionists, who are responsible for a number of murders), they are no less virulent than fundamentalists of other faiths. Many of their campaigns are coordinated through the Christian Coalition, which has been particularly active in trying to censor children’s literature in schools and public libraries, concentrating on books with gay or anti-authoritarian characters, or magical themes. Christian fundamentalists have led campaigns against sex education in the schools; persecuted women’s studies and gay studies programs at the university level; and institutionalized the « gag rule, » which prevents abortion counseling in connection with any US-funded health programs. Because most children’s books are written by women, a large majority of the authors they have targeted are female, among them Meredith Tax, President of Women’s WORLD … (full text).

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Gege Katana Bukuru – Dem. Rep. Congo

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

Gege Katana Bukuru (44) is called the “Iron lady” in Uvira, South Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She earned this name for her courageous activism for women’s rights and the rights of other oppressed people. She has been imprisoned several times and witnessed others being tortured. Despite the pain of being betrayed, Gege will not abandon her people …

She says: « What gives me energy is the success in the setting-up of peace centers in villages: our principle of non-violence in action ».

She says also: … « Among the constraints and the threats I have faced are torture and intimidation, and lack of freedom of movement from 1996 to 2003 … and: « there has been high treaso” by other women whose ambitions were to divide and rule through ethnic divisions. Other colleagues, friends and neighbors abandoned me for fear of threats by different armed groups” … (1000peacewomen 1/2)

Lives blown apart: Despite the desperate situation in DRC much good work goes on. Gégé Katana Bukuru has set up an organisation for training women activists and helping people stand up for their rights.

Watch a video of an interview with Gégé Katana Bukuru, Sofad.

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Gege Katana Bukuru – Dem. Rep. Congo

She works for the Solidarity of Activist Women for Human Rights SOFAD.

… She has lived through robbery, systematic looting of her belongings and trauma. Despite the pain and the odds, Gege picks herself up, forgives and continues to unite people. She is driven by a desire to serve her people.

She is the eldest daughter of a traditional chief, Katana, who instilled in her a strong conscience of her responsibilities toward her people.Gege is religious, though not very verbal about it. Her deep spiritual life enables her to sacrifice even when others abandon her. Her belief in God helps her focus on her tasks despite her personal shortcomings. She can identify people and circumstances that are resourceful for her activities. Her ability to express herself clearly and simply earns her the respect of even her opponents. Her frail appearance hides her perseverance and the strong will that has earned her the nickname “Iron Lady”.

Gege holds a degree from the National University. She was trained in the Pedro Freire Method in Mauritius in 1983 and has attended group advisor training at the Iwacu centre in Rwanda in 1990. In 1991 she attended training at the Pan African Institute. She has also conducted research and participatory training in ARDI in Kigali and rural mobilization from the Study, Research and Documentation Centre in 1992. She has been involved in the defense and protection of human rights since 1981. Gege’s other activities involve the structuring the rural environment, providing adult education and promoting community development.

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Bernd Senf – Germany

Linked with post-autistic economics, with the Natural Economic Order, with die natürliche Wirtschaftsordnung, with AIRLEAP, with Real World Economics; with Die Verantwortung der ökonomischen Theorien; and, concerning an analogue treathment of Wilhelm Reich and Silvio Gesell by the elites, also with Eric Breteau – France. Then with Manufacturing a Food Crisis, with Speculation and collapse: enough, with debitism and other economics, with Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and with G. Edward Griffin – USA, and his book: The Creature from Jekyll Island, a second look at the Federal Reserve.

And added March 15, 2009: Linked with Matthias Chang – Malaysia.

Bernd Senf (* 1944) ist seit 1973 Professor für Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft Berlin… (Full text) / (he is professor for economy in Berlin).

Er sagt: « Die Lösung der Blockierung ist die Lösung. Behutsam, nicht gewaltsam » …  » und: « Das, was als Wissenschaft erscheint, ist von Grund auf ein Glaubenssystem. Die Neoklassik ist ein Glaubenssystem im Gewand von Wissenschaft und sie hat sich mittlerweile den Rahmen einer neuen Weltreligion erarbeitet » … und: « Es ist verständlich: Wenn man sich erstmal auf den Baum der Wissenschaft hochgearbeitet hat, erst im Studium, dann macht man das Diplom und die Doktorprüfung, die Habilitation und man kriegt tatsälich eine Prof-Stelle … und: « Man versucht sich einen guten Ruf zu erwerben, national und auch international » … und: « Dann sitzt man da oben und plötzlich kommt so’ne Flegel an, rüttelt unten am Stamm und zeigen einfach nur auf: Guck mal, der Stamm, die Wurzel ist doch völlig morsch und faul! Ja, die Wenigsten werden mit Begeisterung darauf reagieren und sagen: Nagut, dann komm ich mal von da oben wieder runter. Die meisten werden die Leute, die sie da oben neben sich haben, nehmen, und denen da unten über Kopf hauen. Das ist ganz grob bildlich angedeutet die Struktur des Wissenschaftsbetriebs im Bereich der Wirtschaftswissenschaften » … (Systemfehler.de).

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Bernd Senf – Germany

Bernd Senf’s Hauptartikel in german /auf deutsch: auf seiner Webseite; bei amazon; bei BestBookBuys; bei Google Video-search; bei Google Book-search; bei Google Scholar-search.

Seine Bücher, Videos und Artikel: The Political Economy of Silvio Gesell: A Century of Activism, Oct. 2000; Index zu seinem Buch: Der Nebel um das Geld; Zinssystem und Staatsbankrott; « Wachsende Schulden – wachsende Geldvermögen – wachsende Spannungen« 16. August 2005; Die destruktiven Gesetzmäßigkeiten des Zinssystems und Wege zu seiner Überwindung; Sein Video: Teil 1/2, Probleme des Geldsystems, 1.22 Minuten; .

Er sagt auch: Angenommen zu Beginn unserer Zeitrechnung wäre ein Pfennig mit fünf Prozent Zinsen angelegt worden und hätte, unberührt von Inflationen, Steuern oder Währungsreformen, ungehindert wachsen können – sein Wert hätte 1990 bereits 134 Milliarden Goldkugeln vom Gewicht der Erde entsprochen, allein durch Zins und Zinseszins. Es sind die Zinsen, die unsere Wirtschaft zu fortwährendem Wachstum – und damit zwangsläufig immer wieder in den Zusammenbruch – treiben, sagt Bernd Senf, Professor für Volkswirtschaft an der Berliner Wirtschafts-Fachhochschule im Interview mit P.M. MAGAZIN … (full text, 15. Februar 2008).

I found no texts and articles of Bernd Senf in english, but as he speaks mainly on Wilhelm Reich, Victor Schauenberger and Silvio Gesell, please find here their main texts in english:

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