Helen Scott on Rosa Luxemburg

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A wonderful introduction into the life and times of Rosa Luxemburg, the early 20th century German revolutionary. Helen Scott is editor of "The essential Rosa Luxemburg : Reform or revolution & The mass strike".

Shell on Trial and Antonia Juhasz on “The True Cost of Chevron"

These two in depth Democracy Now reports on Shell's and Chevron's practices of 'externalising costs' proved to provide a great deal of the history of these companies' shady dealings in the third world.



A landmark trial against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s alleged involvement in human rights violations in the Niger Delta begins this Wednesday in a federal court in New York. Fourteen years after the widely condemned execution of the acclaimed Nigerian writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, the court will hear allegations that Shell was complicit in his torture and execution.



Now Chevron’s annual report reports that 2008 was the company’s most profitable year in history. Just ahead of Chevron’s shareholder meeting, a new report released today tells shareholders more about the hidden and underreported costs of these profits. The alternative annual report is called “The True Cost of Chevron.” It brings together stories from communities across the world—Angola, Burma, Canada, Chad, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the Philippines and the United States—all directly affected by and in struggle against Chevron’s operations. We speak to the report’s author and James Craig, media adviser for Latin America for Chevron.

Presentation: Ecological Critique of Market Society

I thought I'd post this presentation text I've written for a philosophy department course called 'Concerns of the Market'. It is aimed to be a short introduction into the ecological critique of, as the course called it, 'market societies'.

It refers to a power point presentation that can be downloaded here or viewed here.

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1 Introduction

In this presentation, my aim is to give a short summary of the critique of market society and neoliberalism from the perspective of environmentalists and ecologists like Dennis and Donella Meadows, the authors of ‘The Limits to Growth’. This presentation will require some scientific discussion that is instrumental for a philosophical perspective. I believe that any fruitful philosophical inquiry into the moral problems of sustainability will have to rely on recent scientific discourse in order to ask the right moral questions. For example, questions like future generations’ rights to oil resources are outdated when it seems unlikely that there will be much left for these future generations, even when there is a consistent political-economic move to sustainable consumption. Rights to energy resources more generally might be more appropriate in this case.

I will break down this critique in two parts; the first dealing with the use of ‘sources’, the other with disposal of waste and pollutants in ‘sinks’. [figure 1, 2, 3] By sources is meant all natural resources that are used in an economy, from fishing stock and arable land to water supply and fossil fuels. By sinks are meant the capacities of ecosystems to absorb pollution and waste, from bacteria in rivers that break down sewage to the adaptivity of atmosphere to greenhouse gas emissions.

Obviously central to this critique is the notion of sustainability. I use the word here as meaning natural-economic conditions of necessity for the realisation of any reasonable interpretation of human flourishing for most people over time. Sustainability is often mistaken as some kind of moral value by itself. But, as long as we can agree that human flourishing in the future should also be an aim of political morality, so I can skip a lengthy discussion of Derek Parfit, what other value should political action ultimately have in mind, if not sustained human flourishing for all? Sustainability, then, concerns the natural boundraries for the sustained possibility of this moral end.

The question is whether societies in which markets are the dominant mechanism of allocation of goods and services are, or can be made capable of dealing fairly and effectively with the problems of increasing scarcity of resources and pollution. In other words: is there a morally acceptable capitalist road to sustainability? As I am approaching this question through looking at natural resources and sinks, Herman Daly’s widely used criteria for sustainable use of resources and pollution I think hits the nail on the head [figure 4]. If there are no questions about this definition of sustainability, I would like to proceed with the overview of the ecological critique of market society.

2.1 Sources

In countries where the price of non-renewable resources and unsustainably used renewable resources are set by the market (or are even subsidised), there is a gap between the use value of that resource and its exchange value, the price. As any normal commodity, natural resources are traded in the market, where supply and demand determine price. According to a central justificatory thesis in neoclassical economics, which treats natural resources like any other commodity, the market mechanism ensures efficient allocation of goods; but, of course, in this case we are dealing with depleting natural resources. Once used, they are gone, and somewhere along the way of depletion, (where maximum supply exceeds demand) price is set no longer by supply, demand and marginal production cost, but by natural scarcity and shortage.

So in so far as there are good reasons to assume that the exchange value, as set by the market at times of relative abundance, is much lower than the real use value of the resource, the market mechanisms of supply and demand cannot be relied upon to allocate non-renewable resources and depleting renewable resources efficiently. It follows that a society that allocates non-renewable resources in this market-based way is, from this perspective, wasting the ‘bank account’ of elementary resources considerably.

But the critique can go more fundamental. Market-based societies are also ill-prepared to adapt to depletion and scarcity of vital resources like energy or food that its economy is reliant on. A political-economic tradition of leaving allocation of non-renewables to the market produces a dependent economic infrastructure with the high consumption patterns that result from market underpricing. These infrastructures are the aggregates of long term investment; it takes several decades to replenish without extra costs the stock of cars, ships, factory equipment, electricity plants and so on. A market-based society that finds one of its essential resources depleting can maybe change allocation systems quickly, but it is stuck with the economic infrastructure and capital stock that is accumulated over time. This kind of exposure to resource shocks combined with the highly discussed increase in worldwide inequality can have morally unacceptable consequences- think of stagflation after the oil shocks of the 70s, food or water shortages and even the collapse of civilisation like on the Easter Islands. These are results of what the authors of LtG call overshoot- when a (socio-economic) system passes its external limits.

My own literature research into the depletion of different non-renewable and depleting renewable resources has convinced me there is cause for concern in many cases; oil and natural gas production are in dangerous stages of decline considering the level of dependency of most societies on these resources. [figure 5 and 6] Potable water, fish stocks and soil fertility are, albeit in different ways, at more or less maximum sustainable levels of extraction or beyond these levels. Contrary to a still dominant academic consensus, I found that the models of the Club of Rome have been quite right so far.

The fundamental question for this course is whether sustainable use of these resources can be reached with ‘market based solutions’. My position here is a negative one. Sustainable use of resources seems to be contradictory to a central thesis in neoclassical economics and market-based politics: that supply and demand allocate resources through setting prices. This conclusion I see supported in historical economic and energy policy in capitalist countries. The countries that have made the most considerable steps towards resource sustainability, Sweden, Iceland and Cuba, have done this through direct government involvement and investment. But rather than expanding on my own political opinion now, I invite discussion on this topic after this presentation.

2.2 Sinks

The question of pollution and waste shares many characteristics with the one concerning (renewable and non-renewable) resource depletion. There are sustainable levels of pollution that can be absorbed by ecosystem sinks, but exceeding these levels for a longer time results in problems of overshoot.

The most global and well-known example of overshoot by polluting sinks is global warming. There are lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions that increase temperature, but will be corrected by the world ecosystems correction mechanisms. After a certain point, however, the ‘positive feedback loops’, or the ecosystem mechanisms that reinforce global warming, become stronger than the balancing correction mechanisms. The current scientific debate concerns when exactly this point is most likely reached. The debate ranges from 350 ppm, which was reached around 1985, to 450 ppm, which would be reached in 35 years at current rates of emission. [figure 7 and 8] This is a very serious issue: if greenhouse gas levels stay above this critical point for a longer time, the genie will be out of the bottle. Humans will have lost their grip on this potential global catastrophe.

Again, the question for this course is whether there is a credible market based road to sustainability on the pollution side of the ecology-economy system. There is one especially prominent market based scheme for reducing emissions, cap and trade. This is the system in place in the EU at the moment, and it is the one that is being proposed by the Obama administration as well. At first sight and with some generous reading of the institutional argument, it seems it could work. All that governments need to do is to set the amount of emission rights, and these can then be allocated by the market in these rights. That would mean that there is a limit for emission, while the market can efficiently decide how exactly these emission targets will be met.

But if one looks a little further into the range of institutions that are involved in these schemes, there are a lot of practical problems with such a solution that I would argue are not just accidental, but institutional and necessary. Emissions can be reduced by all kinds of administrative mechanisms (fe offsetting emissions in seperate projects abroad). Furthermore, markets in emissions rights create a secondary derivative market with its speculative bubbles, and corporations always have an interest in expanding the amount of rights that are actually issued. When the system was just introduced in the EU, for example, the market and lobbying power of big corporations like the German automobile industry was so strong it even accomplished to create rights for more emissions than are produced to begin with. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, emitting corporations universally denied global warming, in a fashion rather like the tobacco industry that denied smoking caused cancer. The history does make one suspect there is a logic in this so called 'partnership of the state and the private sector'. Most environmentalists, and myself included, would argue this is because corporations always have an interest in externalising costs and internalising profits, and will use their resources to obtain their end. This market power of corporations is an institutional fact that directly contradicts any credible move towards sustainability. As long as the market is at the centre stage of environmental policy, this policy will be the result of a tug of war between even the most well-meaning governments and international governmental bodies on the one side, and corporations that externalise the cost of battling against their pollution on the other.

3 Conclusion

If one tries to imagine a credible integrated road to sustainability on all the vital topics adressed and more there seems very little room for market dominance. The most market-based ideas that aim to address these issues in cohesion all emphasise a need for stable and unjeopardised move on the different fronts, requiring price stability for long term investment. A good introduction into these arguments is supplied by Richard Heinberg in 'The Oil Depletion Protocol'. This necessity implies a government setting prices and pushing the market in a sustainable direction. But such a scheme will have to fight the same battle with contradicting economic institutions and mechanisms, like corporate lobbying and externalising of costs. Therefore, considering the actual scientific debates and economic-political practice, I am led to the more philosophical conclusion that capitalism is inherently unsustainable. Real solutions for the problems of an overshooting ecologic-economic system necessarily lie outside market thinking and market practice. Whether this should be a reformist taming of the forces of the market or a radical overcoming of its logic I leave up for discussion. In any case, it seems only a fool could expect that forces from within capitalism itself will save it from its own overshoot.

Ralph Schoenman: The Deeper Politics of 9 11

In this lecture Ralph Schoenman gives I think one of the best possible arguments for why 9/11 is not just a distraction from the present and future, but, to the contrary, provides another overwhelming insight into the shadow sides of state and class.

Ralph Schoenman was a comrade of Betrand Russells in the '60s, and apparently even got tortured in Bolivia for trying to submit evidence to acquit french Marxist Regis Dubray from execution. Schoenman must have been quite a powerful character; in this memo, Bertrand Russell describes him as a quick minded and energetic young optimist who is convinced of "his unshakable belief in the penetration and breadth of his understanding". In 1969, Russell tragically distanced himself from Schoenman, since he had a tendency to exploit his proximity to Russell. As Sartre put it in a letter to Schoenman: "You can't both hide behind Russell and put him in your pocket." But much can be said for Schoenman, since he did not sell out like so many people of his generation. To the contrary, he now perplexes online biography writers by adhering to the language of marxists in the '60: "He reads a long, tedious tract, filled with phrases like 'the workers council were the proletarian power in embryo, but these were smashed by the Stalinist reaction.'"

This lecture makes me suspect however, that he is not just a relic from days when radical groups split over discussions on Trotsky and Stalin. It looks like his confidence and radicalism allows him a great amount of insight into the darkest political facts and structures.

His books include 'P.R.' (1967), 'Bertrand Russell: Philosopher of the Century' (1967), and 'The Hidden History of Zionism' (1988).

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land

From The Real News: "'Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land' was broadcast on the French CBC on October 23, 2008, provoking a flood of complaints to the Canadian network. These complaints overwhelmingly took the network to task for running what they deemed to be a "pro-Palestinian" film, largely sidestepping the critically acclaimed 2004 documentary's explicit focus on how pro-Israeli pressure groups methodically influence American media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

CBC management asked the network's Ombudsman to launch a full-scale investigation into the substance of the complaints and the central charge that the film was unduly biased.

On December 8, 2008, the Ombudsman released her findings. She issued a report concluding that Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land should not have been shown on French CBC at all."

The funny thing is that this film addresses the propaganda war in favour of the Israeli state, that uses strategies like creating an atmosphere of fear to keep journalists from stepping out of the official narrative that justifies the occupation. It is an analysis of the very practice this Ombudsman's report is an example of.

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

Nate Hagens on Energy, Resources and Human Demand on a Full Planet

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Nate Hagens is an ex vice president of Lehman Brothers who voluntarily left his business career some years ago out of concerns about 'negative externalities'. Now he is doing his PhD at the University of Vermont Gund Institute for ecological economics, establishing connections in his research between the limits to growth and different possible responses, both in terms of alternative energy sources and change in consumption behaviour. I don't always like his reductionist take on questions of behaviour and ideology, explaining patterns of behaviour in terms of biochemical brain functions, but he has a lot to say about the predicament of the limits to growth.

His university page introduces Nate Hagens in these terms:

Nate is studying the impacts that a decline in liquid fuels will have on planetary ecosystems and society. On the supply side, he is exploring net-energy comparisons of the primary alternate fuel sources to oil: coal, wind, nuclear and biomass. While many new energy schemes will produce profits from a bottoms-up perspective, an EROI (Energy Returned on Energy Invested) analysis from a top-down perspective limits the scope of energetically and ecologically sound replacements for fossil fuels.

Because of this, real progress on the human and planetary scale issue will likely come from a reduction in consumption. On the demand level, Nate is studying the evolutionary mechanisms that cause humans to seek novelty, act impulsively, and value the present over the future (steep discount rates). Specifically, our neural plasticity combined with a culture promoting growth and consumption results in biochemical positive feedback loops akin to addiction. We can however, be happier, healthier and more sustainable by consuming less, if we are provided with a different cultural carrot. Nate’s thesis lies in modeling sustainable scale solutions to the future decline in EROI by researching ways to reduce the steepness of our discount rates, thus giving more weight to the planet’s future.

Meet Mumia Abu Jamal

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Mumia Abu-Jamal is an American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Before his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, most notably 'Live from Death Row'. On April 6, 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled that his original conviction of 28 years ago would stand.
Despite all the setbacks and defeats in the struggle for his own life, Mumia is still regularly broadcasting broadcasting his insightful and eloquent columns trough Prison Radio.

Every Cook Can Govern

C. L. R. James 1956
Every Cook Can Govern
A Study of Democracy in Ancient Greece
Its Meaning for Today

I've come across a gem of an article by C.L.R. James, whom I suspect to be one of the 20th century's most inspiring historians. Apparently, he wrote a large number of important scholarly works in the 50s and 60s that explored entirely new terrain; and he had a knack for reading history for what it can tell us today.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Greek Democracy was that the administration (and there were immense administrative problems) was organized upon the basis of what is known as sortition, or, more easily, selection by lot. The vast majority of Greek officials were chosen by a method which amounted to putting names into a hat and appointing the ones whose names came out.

Now the average CIO bureaucrat or Labor Member of Parliament in Britain would fall in a fit if it was suggested to him that any worker selected at random could do the work that he is doing, but that was precisely the guiding principle of Greek Democracy. And this form of government is the government under which flourished the greatest civilization the world has ever known.

(...)

For the Greek, the word isonomia, which meant equality, was used interchangeably for democracy. For the Greek, the two meant the same thing. For the Greek, a man who did not take part in politics was an idiotes, an idiot, from which we get our modern word idiot, whose meaning, however, we have limited. Not only did the Greeks choose all officials by lot, they limited their time of service. When a man had served once, as a general rule, he was excluded from serving again because the Greeks believed in rotation, everybody taking his turn to administer the state.

Books by C.L.R. James

Report: The Interplay between Climate Change and Peak Oil

This week, my friend Rembrandt Koppelaar nicely summarised a recent study by ASPO Netherlands on the interplay between climate change and peak oil. Read the whole article on theoildrum.com.


Changes in the oil market and climate change are generally seen as separate phenomena. Although it is common knowledge that fossil fuels are the predominant source of CO2 emissions, the interplay between these emissions and fossil fuel scarcity is a topic that has scarcely been researched.

A new report from ASPO Netherlands provides a focused view of the interplay between these two themes. The report indicates that while the peaking of oil production would by itself have a favorable impact on carbon dioxide emission, this beneficial effect may be mostly offset by increased emissions from unconventional oil production. The report can be downloaded here (PDF, 2.4 MB, 56 pp) and a summary can be found below the fold.

Two Strategies to Change the World

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In light of my last article and the discussion following it, I found the latest discussion from last years' Marxism festival in London very interesting. Almost a year ago, John Holloway and Alex Callinicos debate strategies for changing the world at Marxism festival in London.

John Holloway is a lawyer, Marxist-oriented sociologist and philosopher, whose work is closely associated with the Zapatista movement in Mexico, his home since 1991. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and has a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently a teacher at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Autonomous University of Puebla.

Alex Callinicos has played a leading role in the European and World Social Forums, speaking at events and workshops across the world. His books include The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx, Against Postmodernism and The New Mandarins of American Power.
He is currently director of the European Studies Program at King’s College London.

Slavoj Žižek in Roda Viva

In this excellent interview with Slavoj Žižek, the thinking of this fascinating philosopher is nicely introduced as Žižek is confronted with questions from different sides; he explains why he is a marxist in political economy and Freudian, Lacanian and Hegelian in matters of ideology.

Books by Slavoj Žižek

The Anarchist FAQ

As i was watching one of mr. 1001 Nights' video discussions on the labour theory of value, by the same guy who made the documentary "The Evilness of Power", I saw he reffered to an FAQ page on anarchism. It turned out to be quite a nice and above all, orderly overview of answers to a broad range of philosophical and scientific subjects that come up in debates on capitalism, ideology, and authority. It spans the board across ecology, authority and statism, neoclassical economics, history of the russian revolution, dissemination of the different kinds of anarchism, human nature arguments; you name it, it's there. So click on the link above if it piqued your curiosity as well.

Michael Ruppert's Come Back

Just when most followers of Fromthewilderness.com thought Michael Ruppert was never going to get active again, here he is with a new book, called 'A Presidential Energy Policy'now available on Amazon, and a new documentary, Collapse.

I'm intruiged by this former detective who followed and spoke out about CIA drugs dealing for decades. He wrote an 700-page optimally court admissible case for prosecuting Cheney on 9/11, and during his investigations took up the issue of peak oil as it played a part in the motives for 9/11 and what followed. He predicted the burst of the housing bubble as early as 2005 and told all his listeners in the US to get out of debt. Now, he wrote a book about the radical essentials of energy policy. We should be paying attention. Obviously, I haven't read the book yet, but Colin Campbell and Cynthia McKinney, to name a few, have already had a peek:
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Michael Ruppert does not mince his words writing a stirring and uncompromising book on a vital issue. He addresses some simple but widely ignored concepts relating to the critical role of oil and gas in the modern world. First, they are finite resources, formed in the geological past, being therefore subject to depletion. Second, they have to be found before they can be produced, such that the peak of discovery, which is long past, must deliver a corresponding peak of production.(..)

It is a perceptive, stimulating and very readable book covering a subject of critical importance. It deserves a place on the bookshelves of everyone from the school teacher to the chief executive; from the bishop to the politician and world leader.

Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
Former Oil Exploration Geologist (Texaco, British Petroleum)
Former Exploration Manager, Total
Former Consultant to Shell, Statoil, Mobil and Amerada
Former Executive V.P. Petrofina
Author, many books and publications on Oil and Gas depletion
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All I can say about A Presidential Energy Policy is, "Yikes!"

This is a book everyone should read.

Mike Ruppert is my friend. And, sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else, we will find Dr. King's admonition, once again, to be true: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truths. About crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this -- how to step back from the brink of human disaster.

It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. A Presidential Energy Policy lands Mike exactly where I am -- outside of the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our "leadership" must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.

Cynthia McKinney
6-term Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008

In light of the article I've just written and posted below, I think it'd be informative to link to a speech made by first Iraq war veteran and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter in 2007 on the anti-war movement and strategy. In it, he promotes his book Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Anti-War Movement. Enjoy the drill.

Funnily enough, there's also a British based organisation with the identical name: Waging Peace

People Power Politics

Compared to the last American government of course, the Obama administration is quite responsive to public opinion. But, to be frank, it should be clear by now that Obama’s policies are miles away from taking measures to dismantle the empire, take care of the poor in your country, set up single payer health care, or implement a crucial emergency rescue plan for energy and climate, for instance. The crucial question therefore, I think, is not what the current administration is proposing and doing, but rather what American activists will be able to achieve in the present historic window of opportunity. As Christopher Hayes expressed a similar optimism: "history is pointing in our direction". So in this article I would like to address the strategy of the American left, the vital actors who put pressure on the only state that can on its own seriously change the course of world politics.

I am of course not alone in calling for the active citizens of the US to think about the most effective way to act in the longer term. For example, former UN weapons inspector and anti-war drill sergeant Scott Ritter stated that the anti-war movement needs to reinvent itself:

“It is high time for the anti-war movement to take a collective look in the mirror, and be honest about what they see. A poorly organized, chaotic, and indeed often anarchic conglomeration of egos, pet projects and idealism that barely constitutes a "movement," let alone a winning cause.” ('The Art of War for the Anti-War Movement')

Ritter is often a little harsh and rigid to my taste, and understandably suffered from some culture shock after siding with anti-authoritarian activists, he does have an important point. I think it can help all of us to be shouted at by people like him from time to time. Not because activist groups need to organize in a military manner per se, but to become better at strategic forward thinking; setting objectives, and consequently figuring out concrete ways to achieve them. There is, however, one crucial issue he does not address: the need to formulate an independent radical vision of and for society. Strategic action is always a means to an end, it by definition only makes sense if it is instrumental to a larger goal. The task for the left is to formulate this alternative vision for society.

So the left does not only need to reinvent itself organizationally, but also ideologically. Theory is a necessary first step to opening up political possibility. These times of proliferation of crises should be used first and foremost to return to the fundamental questions and critiques of capitalist social relations, the state and its relation to capital, democracy in the economic sphere, the relation between the economy and the natural environment, alienation and consumer society and so on. The ongoing search for forms of collective action that transcend the now all too apparent shortcomings of liberal democratic capitalism is what needs to give the left a lasting sense of direction.

But in the mean time, reforms are urgently necessary to open space for radical ideas. Electoral reform and environmental reform are two illustrations of this necessity. Electoral reform is needed to break open the two party system, to show that the Democrats or the Republicans are not the only political options. And whatever society one would like to see take form, it will have to live with natural constraints like climate change, depletion of natural resources; in short the limits to growth. Our current transgression of the limits to growth is one fundamental difference between the situation in the 1930s and today. As a consequence of these new concerns, I would argue, the American left will have to seriously press for reform while engaging in a fundamental debate of self-reinvention. The issue is therefore not whether you should take a step back and think or act immediately out of a sense of urgency, but rather how to combine the two activities.

To determine a way to start realizing those long-term visions, it is helpful to think in terms of social processes. Quite understandably, the last eight years of the Bush administration evoked a serious amount of popular disenfranchisement; resulting in passive apathy but also active resistance. The depression and the bailouts have also motivated people to protest in the streets of New York, London and Strasbourg. People power has been on the rise lately. If the process of disenfranchisement continues during the Obama administration, it could very well become the foundation for a commonplace independent activist citizenry on the longer term, in which citizens organize, self-educate and determine their own course rather than limiting themselves to passively endorsing the Democrats, the Republicans, or being apathetic. The two essential missing ingredients are active organization and critical theory.

For some time, the campaign and election of Barack Obama took away a lot of energy from the movements. Especially in the weeks following the election the Obamania was absolutely intolerable. But lately, popular discussion and pressure increased by mainstream media is forcing him into a dilemma. If I understand the significance of the torture memoranda debate correctly, there are two possible outcomes. In the most likely case, Obama will keep to his line of only 'looking forward' and stop short of prosecuting those responsible for the torture under Bush (and during his own presidency! Democracy Now reported that since the closing of Guantanamo was announced, the treatment of prisoners there worsened significantly), which means he will bend and twist to keep the torture conspirators above the law. Such preferential treatment would be another sign that real change can only be the result of pressure from below, as was shown by the conservative staff appointments, the intensification of the war in Afghanistan, the silence during the Gaza siege, the Geithner plan, etcetera. Pressure would have to increase for the Obama government to make the changes that are necessary, pressure that will only come from your actions and patience.

The other possibility is that Obama shows himself willing to give in to pressure from below on issues that can draw on widespread coverage and popular support, and really allow prosecution. Just imagine Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and Donald Rumsfeld as defendants in court! That would be an amazing victory, again not for the Obama government, but for the American people; earned especially by those who have made the case for justice and fought for years to get to the truth of the matter.

If anything, this debate shows there is a chance to realize successes. The Obama administration is predictably wriggling around and torturing logic in avoidance of making powerful enemies, so do not be fooled into passivity if he will not go through with prosecution of those who allowed and committed torture. But there will be new chances. Anyone who has read books by Chomsky will know that there is no short supply of issues on which the policy elite, Republican or Democrat, opposes the views of a wide majority of the American population. Herein lies possibility of reform not only for the sake of reform itself, but also to show that another world is possible.

So what I would like to convey to you is this: for your own countries’ sake and for people around the world, self-educate and become effective. While engaging in the necessary ideological debates on the bigger picture, join an activist group if you haven’t already. Get into touch with other groups on a national level, coordinate and pick a topic to campaign on, have patience and try to use the mainstream media as your own platform. I am not saying that this will be easy, but when the chance is there, you have to be able to take it and use it well. Because, as we see in the recent debate on torture, it actually is possible to get even Fox News hosts to unequivocally denounce torture and call for prosecution of those responsible. You may not agree with how Shephard Smith puts his argument -“If we are to be Reagan’s shining city on the hill..”- but he was able to suddenly disrupt the indoctrination of millions of your countrymen. His broadcast outrage was as politically valuable a service as countless hours’ worth of organizing, licking envelopes, sending emails, having meetings and staging rallies. The trouble so often is, you need to latter to have the former; the very fact that Obama released the memoranda or that Shephard Smith felt the need to denounce torture to such a degree, are the sweet fruits of effective activism. Never forget that you, the active citizens of the US, are the real superpower.

Freek Blauwhof is a philosophy student and member of the Dutch Green Party, as well as the International Socialists.

The Evilness of Power - A Documentary on Authority

Few, if any documentaries I have come across go as deep into what motivates people to commit acts that our conscience normally would never allow. Montageing commentary from a host of intellectuals and shards of history, recent politics and popular culture to back them up, this film makes a powerful case that the evil people do to each other is not inherent in human nature: it requires authority and hierarchy to come about.

On www.anarchy.net, the creator of the film had this to say about his montage documentary:
"My motivations for creating The Evilness of Power are varied. I wanted to clarify the ideas and channel the strong emotions I'd been internalizing since I became an activist in 2004 and which I had been sketchily trying to articulate in my youtube channel since late 2006. I also realized that there weren't that many documentaries dealing exclusively with the concept of hierarchy--perhaps none at all--. I noticed how relatively easy and effective it would be to weave together some of my youtube videos with parts of programs, films, documentaries etc to offer a more comprehensive examination of hierarchy and hopefully contribute to revolutionary change."

Will Obama Be Forced To Prosecute?

Good news, for a change! The pressure on Obama to prosecute those responsible for authorising torture seems to be mounting. This is happening not just in the marginal grass roots outlets, but in the mainstream media as well. Even Fox news commentator Shepherd Smith had to speak out against torture, saying "We are America, we do not Fucking torture!". I'm wondering, will Obama really be forced to either pardon the torture or prosecute Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld? In any case, this debate just goes to show that real change comes from below.

Interview with Eva Golinger

I've found an excellent twenty-minute interview with Eva Golinger, the American-Venezuelan lawyer and journalist who obtained documents proving USAID and CIA's involvement in the 2002 coup attempt in Caracas. She tells about the coup, the direction and deepening of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, and US policy towards the country.

Books by Eva Golinger

Announcing Dutch and British Marxism Festivals

As spring comes into full swing in Europe, the traditional 1st of May is followed by a series of Marxism festivals. In Holland, the International Socialists organised a two day event, hosting a myriad of discussions, film screenings, meetings and musical performances. The language will occasionally be Dutch, but the list of speakers is international so there will also be plenty of opportunities for those who don't speak Dutch.
During the course of weekend of the 9th and 10th of May, the following speakers will shed their light and engage in discussion on the depression, its causes and opportunities, climate change, NATO and Afghanistan, Obama and what he means for imperialism, 10 years of Chavez, the food crisis, the state of the unions, and much, much more:

Arnold Heertje (economist)
Ronald van Raak (Socialist Party MP)
Linda IJmker (Milieudefensie; Environmental Defence)
Mohamed Rabbae (Een Land Een Samenleving; One Country, One Society)
Lindsey German (Stop the War, UK)
Cees Ladestein (OR Nemef / FNV)
Maina van der Zwan (International Socialists)
Hajo Meyer (Een Ander Joods Geluid; A Different Jewish Voice)
Sotiris Kontogiannis (SEK, Greek Socialist Worker Party)
Nora el-Jebli (Moslima Polder Brigade)
Henk Overbeek (University of Amsterdam)
Mike Gonzalez (socialist from Venezuela)
Rebecca Gomperts (Women on Waves Foundation)
Peyman Jafari (author of 'The Other Iran')
Marjolein ’t Hart (University of Amsterdam)
Erhan Can (organizer with Dutch labour Union, the FNV)
Sara Farris (Sinistra Critica, Italy)
Marienella Yanes (filmmaker Red Oil)
Erkan Dogan (socialist from Turkey)
Miriyam Aouragh (Oxford University)
Antonio Carmona Baez (IIRE)
Volkhard Mosler (Die Linke, Germany)
Sjaak van der Velden (IISG)
Bart Griffioen (head editor 'De Socialist')
Mani Tanoh (socialist from Ghana)
Kees Kalkman (VD Amok)

So for those of you who live in Holland, I very warmly invite you to join the festival.

For those of you who live in Britain, this kind of festival is organised in an even more grandiose style in London, spanning five days with several events simultaneously. The list of internationally renowned speakers is just extraordinary. I plan on going there as well to see in real life some of the people who have been real sources of inspiration to me: Tariq Ali, Tony Benn and Slavoj Žižek in particular. So if you are in Britain, mark the 2nd to the 6th of July in your diary and make sure you do not miss this opportunity!

Jeremy Scahill on the Obama Age

One of America's newly risen stars in investigative journalism, Jeremy Scahill discusses American military power and economic imperialism in the coming years, related to Obama policies. Scahill has reported from post-invasion Iraq; the former Yugoslavia, where he covered the 1999 NATO bombing; and from post-Katrina Louisiana. He is is a correspondent for Democracy Now, and is a frequent contributor to The Nation. Scahill documented the use of private military contractors in his award-winning book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."

'Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army' and other books by Jeremy Scahill